Maroon5d
by PsychLassieFan4Ever
Summary: Carlton/Shawn story set in an AU of my making. The title comes from the fact that listening to several Maroon5 songs inspired this fic and for some reason most of the lyrics in their songs make me think of Lassiter and Spencer. Together.
1. Chapter 1- Payphone (1)

**Disclaimers:** I do NOT own or have any association with anyone who owns these characters or the show Psych. It would be awesome if I did, but alas, it's not to be. I do enjoy playing with these guys and having them play with each other.

**Warnings:** There will be a man/man relationship in this story with all the trappings that go along with that. Language can get a bit strong, but not terrible. I try not to let the F-bomb drop.

**Notes:** I have a Prologue to this story and to establish where these guys came from, you might want to read that one first. This story will probably contain spoilers from all seasons of the show and even though this started with the tag of the episode "From Earth to Starbucks" in season one, the timeline will not follow the episodes from here on out. Obviously, an AU story, as in the show Lassiter is not involved with Shawn romantically. Enjoy, if you can. Let me know what you think afterwards. Good or Bad.

* * *

Carlton moaned as the hands brushed against his crotch. He realized he was lying on a floor as the hands continued to touch him through his pants. Carlton wanted more, to have those hands touching without the cloth barrier. He just couldn't find his voice enough to let the owner of those hands know what he wanted.

Even without being told, whoever was touching him must have known what he wanted. He felt fingers dip beneath his waistband before undoing his belt. Then the buttons of his pants were undone slowly. He was fully hard by the time his zipper was lowered and he was relieved of the pants altogether.

One hand reached inside his boxers and grasped around his erection while the other ran through his hair. Carlton pressed against the hand on his cock as he felt warm lips graze against his own. The mouth deepened the kiss and found his tongue as it gained easy entrance. He wanted to see who was touching him, who was kissing him, but his vision was blurred.

Carlton felt like he was losing his mind surrounded by the sensations of the hand pumping him, the warmth of the body on top of him and the familiar spicy, sweet scent he couldn't quite recognize. He came as he heard, "You astound me." whispered into his ear.

"Oh my God."

Detective Lassiter woke up from the dream in a sweat and his sheets were tangled around his body. It had been a long time since he last had a wet dream. And this one felt different. Parts of this dream felt more like memories, but he wasn't quite sure which parts were which.

Carlton had gone to bed last night confident in his decision to finally proceed to finalize his divorce. If Victoria could move on, so could he. For once, the time he had spent trying to get her back seemed like wasted time. Two years. He felt tired at the thought of how much time he had wasted. His resolve remained strong as he readied himself for work.

His dream had left him more relaxed than he had been in weeks. There was still the lingering feeling that some of what he dreamt had been real and he couldn't shake the faint smell of something he couldn't place. As he got into his car to head to work, he dialed his wife's lawyer's number, and then hesitated. Was he really ready for this?

Yes. Yes he was.

His heartbeat sped up as he left his message with the receptionist. When he hung up and started driving to the station, he couldn't help a smile from forming. He walked to his desk with a little more spring in his steps and began to think about the weight about to be lifted from his life. There was always a chance that Victoria would try to get more out of him before the divorce was final, but he would deal with that if it came.

* * *

He dropped his briefcase on his desk and turned to get coffee. He paused at his partner's desk on the way.

"O'Hara. Coffee?"

She looked up at him and saw a smile on his face.

"Uh, sure." She started to stand but he stopped her. But then he realized he didn't know how she liked her coffee. They'd been partners for a while now and he couldn't recall how she liked her coffee? What kind of a partner was he? He guessed his assertion to get her coffee this morning was way overdue.

"Sugar? Cream?"

"Okay. One Cream, two sugars?"

Carlton snapped his fingers. "Got it. Be right back."

He only walked a few feet before she caught up to him.

"What's up with you this morning? Did you have a date last night?"

"I'm in a good mood this morning, O'Hara. So, no, I did not have a date last night."

"Then what's with the, you know? The niceness?"

"I can be nice. To people I can stand. That includes you, but not very many others." That list was pretty short, he admitted, but there was at least a list. Of about four people.

He handed her a coffee mug, but she was still staring at him.

"What? I just realized that I hadn't treated you to a coffee in a while and I thought I would offer. If that disturbs you, I won't offer again."

"No, it's great. Thank you, Carlton."

"Welcome."

"But there is something up, isn't there?"

Lassiter walked back to his desk with O'Hara right behind him. When he sat down, she took to the chair at the side. Carlton knew she wouldn't let up. She was too stubborn for that and she could crack suspects in the interrogation room with bigger secrets on the line.

"It's personal. But, seeing as we shouldn't hold many secrets from each other," He cleared his throat before he continued, "I have decided to finally have my ex-wife's attorney draw up the divorce papers and this time, I will sign them. I already left him a message and, with any luck, I should hear back by this afternoon.

Under normal circumstances, Carlton would have to wait for six months to pass after the papers were signed and filed before the divorce would be finalized. The six month wait is meant to give couples the time to re-think their decision. But since he and Victoria had split over two years ago, he hoped the judge could be persuaded to overlook the waiting period.

"Oh, Carlton. That is huge. What made you finally decide?"

"I think it's just time. There's no need to keep holding on to something that's over. I need to move on and I think I can do that now."

If he were honest with himself, it was the realization that he wasn't alone in his life without Victoria. He held on so hard before because he thought the divorce would end the only personal connection he had in the world outside of work. That the marriage failing would mean he had failed. The end of the Vallery case had opened his eyes to the fact that his closest connections were right in front of him. The three of them: O'Hara, Spencer and Guster, had helped him without expectation of credit or praise in their direction. They showed him that one bad stumble didn't have to taint the rest of the good there was around him. And as a group they had boosted him out of a downward spiral. He had no need to hold on to the one negative connection to his past anymore. Coupled with the fact that Spencer now held his biggest secret and had made no moves to spill it had Carlton beginning to trust the man. And for Carlton trust was huge.

And if all of that didn't come off sounding all flowery and wimpy, he would have said some of it out loud to his partner.

Lassiter looked through the papers in his inbox and found a note from the coroner.

"Well, enough pleasantries, O'Hara. We have a body in the morgue and Strode is ready with his report." Carlton stood and buttoned his suit jacket.

Every visit to Woody Strode's morgue left Lassiter a shade more creeped out than when he entered. This visit was no different. The man was weird, but he was great at his job. If Spencer was in the room the rapport the two men had left Lassiter feeling like he was out of whatever loop they had found themselves. When he and O'Hara entered, Strode had the body under a sheet, but Carlton was unprepared to find what seemed to be a mini salad bar on the counter behind the coroner.

"Strode, are you throwing a party down here later?"

"Uh, well detective, not exactly. I figured since most everyone who comes down here only stays a few minutes that maybe they'd stay longer if I offered light refreshments, for after.

"So you have open food down here while you do autopsies?"

"Detective O'Hara, that would be unwise. No. I cover the food during the autopsy."

"Of course." O'Hara looked at her partner and he returned with a look of his own. Chief Vick wouldn't let Woody keep the food. A certain Head Detective would make sure of that.

"Please. What did you find about the body?"

Carlton didn't want to stay down here any longer than he already had.

* * *

Lassiter and O'Hara walked back upstairs with Strode's report to add to their case file. As he neared his desk, a familiar scent drifted to Carlton's nose and he slowed his progress. Just as he thought he could identify the scent, it was gone and when he looked around he saw Spencer's ass planted on his desk. The sight of the man in his rumbled shirts and tight jeans distracted Carlton from trying to find out where that scent had come from.

"Spencer. Why the hell are you sitting on my desk?"

So far the fake psychic had kept his word to keep Carlton's secret, but Carlton was still wary as whether that would hold or not.

"Lassyface, the spirits told me that this was where I needed to be at this very moment. And good thing I was too. Buzz had dropped this message for you and if I wasn't here, it would have gone straight down the vent over there."

Spencer hopped off Lassiter's desk and bent down towards the vent on the floor. As he did, his shirts rode up and the jeans tightened across his ass. Lassiter couldn't help but to look. He caught himself staring even after Spencer had stood back up, and he felt his face flush.

Spencer didn't seem to notice that Lassiter had just checked him out, but Carlton was embarrassed by his actions all the same.

"Well, will you give it to me already, Spencer?"

Shawn's face reddened a bit and Lassiter took in what he had just said.

"My message, you need to give me the message." He reached his hand out indicating that he wanted Spencer to hand him the slip of paper.

"Sure thing Lassie." Shawn placed the paper into Lassiter's hand then let his fingers brush against the detective's hand as he pulled away. He seemed to pull away slower than was necessary, in Lassiter's mind. The touch from those fingers for just that brief moment had Lassiter's mind heading to places not suitable for the workplace.

Was Spencer flirting with him? Or was that just Carlton's on mind messing with him? Either way, he was at the station and he was hoping the message that Spencer just gave him was news from his wife's lawyer. He would have time to deal with Spencer later. Much later.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER ONE-**


	2. Chapter 2-Payphone (2)

Thank you to those who have followed/read/reviewed. Hopefully this looonger chapter is suitable for you to keep wanting to read this. There's plenty still in my head.

**Disclaimer:** Still own nothing that's recognizable (like the characters).

* * *

Carlton read the message written on the pink slip of paper. Victoria's lawyer's number and the time of 1pm was written on it. He entered the time into his phone to remind him just in case.

"Lassie? Got a hot date for a late lunch, huh?"

"No."

"Well who are you meeting at 1 o'clock?"

Carlton sighed. Of course the man had read the message before he handed it over.

"None of your business. Now, again, why are you here?"

"What? I can't just drop by to visit my favorite detectives?"

"No." Both Lassiter and O'Hara answered at the same time, and it caused Lassiter to smirk with pride towards his partner.

"Shawn, you never just 'stop by'. What's going on?"

"Gus left me to go to some drug convention. I am really hoping he scores some heavy-duty samples this time. I mean, what's the benefit of traveling all the way to Sacramento, being bored all weekend if you can't bring home a couple dope drug samples, right? Anyway, I finished all the items on the to-do list he left me and now..."

"You're bored and decided to pester us?" Lassiter realized he had just finished Spencer's sentence and suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Yes. Exactly. So, after your shift, Lassy-face, what would you say to a round or two of indoor paintball? Jules, you are invited too, of course. I would get bragging rights for months if I were to bring you two sexy badasses on the field."

Shawn grasped both Lassiter and Juliet's shoulders, but then ran his hand down the man's arm and squeezed his bicep on the way down before he released both detectives and clapped his hands together.

"Okay." Shawn cleared his throat and Lassiter saw the other man's face blush.

"You two call me around 4 o'clock. That would be, what? 2400 hours? 2400, is that right?"

"1600, Spencer. How can you not... you know what? Never mind."

"Shawn, I'll join you. Carlton?" His partner looked to him and she practically bounced as she waited for him to answer.

"If... IF this phone call goes well, then... okay, I'll join the two of you."

"Yes! I was hoping you'd take me up on the invitation. I mean, now you'll get your chance to try and shoot me like you're always threatening. Unless I get you first."

"In your dreams, Spencer."

"4 o'clock. If you don't call me, I will be calling you. Just a warning in case you were just gonna blow me off."

Carlton felt himself blush again at Spencer's poor word choice. Why was he reacting like this around him? He felt like he was back in high school when he had a crush on the debate team captain. Spencer was always in his business and found ways to enter his personal space, why now would these things start to affect him?

"We'll call you, Shawn. Won't we Carlton?"

"Sure, Spencer." Carlton took to enter the 4 o'clock reminder into his phone just so he wouldn't have to look Spencer in the eye.

"Thanks, Jules."

The two detectives got back to their case file once Shawn had left the building, but Lassiter kept checking the time on his watch. He did not want to miss his appointment to call his wife's attorney.

It wasn't until after they had divided up the workload of witness interviews and evidence reviews that O'Hara broached a subject of a personal nature.

"You know, I think Shawn gets really lonely when Gus goes away on business trips. Do you think that is why he invited us this evening?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, maybe. Hopefully, we hang out with him tonight and then he'll be good until Guster comes back."

"Yeah. Thanks for coming with me. I just didn't want things to get weird between him and I."

"How so?"

"I just don't want him to think it would be a date, you know? I mean he's been flirting with me and things, but... I mean I like him, but I don't like him that way. He seems more like a brother to me. So thanks again for coming with us just in case."

"As long as my phone call doesn't piss me off and put me off of going, I'll be there." He thought that it might be good for him to do something other than eat a frozen dinner and cleaning his service weapon before bed.

"Do you want to go to lunch? Do we have time before you need to make your call?"

Lassiter took another look at his watch. "Let's go."

The cafe they chose for lunch took longer than usual, so when it was time for Lassiter to make his phone call, he had to let O'Hara drive back to the station. He had hoped to be able to make the call in private, but circumstances didn't allow that.

"Yes, this is Carlton Lassiter. I was given this time to call to talk to Mr. Hofheimer. Yes. Thank you."

While he was on hold, Carlton looked over at O'Hara as she drove them back. He knew she'd overhear everything on this call.

"Sorry about this. Hopefully it won't take long."

"Don't worry about it, good luck."

"Thanks."

"Yes, Mr. Hofheimer. Michael. Yes, the divorce decree. If Victoria hasn't made any new changes I'd like to make an appointment to sign the order. No, there's no rush, but it's dragged on long enough hasn't it? One of us has to decide to end this before it gets any more ridiculous. Yes, that's the most current? Oh, right. Yes she can keep that."

Lassiter shifted in the passenger seat as the attorney brought up the one huge issue he had with Victoria. The ring he had given her on their wedding day was his grandmother's and even though tradition was when a marriage ended, the wife got to keep the ring, he wanted it returned. To Carlton, it didn't feel right for her to keep it since she never liked it and it belonged within his family. Maybe his sister could use it, or he could at least return it to his mother.

"Has she changed her mind at all about the ring? She has? For what?! That's... that's absurd. How much? Jesus. Yes, okay as long I get it back when we sign the papers. I do not want her to take forever to return it. Okay. Was there anything else? No. Nothing to add. Yes. Okay. Thank you."

"Son of a bitch."

"Bad news?"

Lassiter could tell that his partner worried about whether anything that occurred would change their plans for this evening. He still had not answered when she pulled the Crown Vic into his space in front of the station.

"Carlton? You okay partner?"

"Yeah, I guess. Shit. It's going to cost me an additional five grand to that woman so she will return my grandmother's ring."

Carlton got out of the car and shut the door a little harder than necessary.

"Five thousand dollars? That is a lot of money. Is she crazy?"

"Maybe. She did agree to marry me in the first place, so the evidence could lean that direction. At least she's letting me get it back. All this time she's never even entertained my requests for its return."

"Well I guess that's something."

"Thanks O'Hara."

"What for?" A look of confusion crossed his partner's face.

"For not giving me any clichéd pity responses."

"Anytime. When is your appointment to sign everything?"

"Friday. By the weekend this should all be finished."

"Good. Now I have a family picnic this Saturday. But Sunday evening I am taking you out for drinks to celebrate."

"As long as it's just you and I. Do not invite anyone else." He hoped that statement would keep his partner from inviting Spencer along. He had already embarrassed himself while drunk around that man. He didn't want to have a repeat performance of that night.

"You got it, partner. Now... about tonight?"

"Spencer's going to wish he had only invited you to this paintball thing. I so have the need to shoot something tonight."

He heard O'Hara let out a breath that he thought she'd been holding since he hung up the phone.

Thankfully the rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully as O'Hara and Lassiter finalized their interview statements.

"Oh crap. It's already 4 o'clock. We need to call Shawn or he'll start calling us."

Juliet started to dial when Lassiter's phone rang.

"Too late. It's Spencer." O'Hara moved to Lassiter's desk as he answered.

"Yes, Spencer. What do you want?" He knew why the fake psychic was calling, but it was still fun to yank on his chain. He put Spencer on speakerphone. "What? No, I have no idea what you're talking about. O'Hara, were we supposed to call Spencer for something?"

"Quit playing Carlton. Yes Shawn, we were just getting to call you."

"Judging from his less than scowling answers, Lassiter's joining us, right?"

"Yes, Shawn. He is."

"Are you really, Lassifrass?"

Lassiter groaned. "Yes, Spencer. I'll be there."

"I'm warning you though, Shawn. He's looking to shoot something in a bad way. Be Prepared."

"I'm always prepared. Learned that from the Fireside Girl Scouts."

"That's the Boy Scout motto, Spencer."

"I've heard it both ways."

"No you haven't Spencer." Lassiter thought he'd play along this time since Spencer's little buddy wasn't around this weekend.

"Not quite there yet are you, Lassie? But thanks for trying. You'd have to call me Shawn in order for that to work right."

"Whatever Spencer. Now where do you want us to meet you?" He had played along, now he just wanted to get on with things.

"Actually, could one of you pick me up? I only have my motorcycle and my gear wouldn't fit."

O'Hara started to signal right away that she didn't want to pick Shawn up. Since their conversation about her not wanting him to get the wrong idea, Lassiter understood. But he considered how he'd been feeling all day and wondered if it was a good idea for him to be alone with Spencer. He decided he'd take one for O'Hara... this time around.

"Damn it Spencer, I'll pick you up."

There was quite a long pause before Spencer replied. "Thanks Lassie. Be here at 6:30 and Jules we'll meet you at the range around 6:45. Our field time is at 7."

"Okay. Bye."

"I owe you one, partner. Thanks."

"Yes, you will."

They spent the next hour wrapping things up and filed their case report for Chief Vick. The two detectives left the station and headed their separate ways to get their gear and change clothes. Lassiter ended up calling Spencer back to get directions to the other man's apartment since he had never been there.

When he pulled into the parking lot, Spencer was already waiting for him, gear bag ready.

"Just put your crap in the trunk." Lassiter got out as the trunk opened, but Spencer hadn't moved from his spot on the curb. He saw the other man focused on him. He stared so long that Lassiter started to get self-conscious.

"What is it, Spencer? Do I have something on my shirt?"

"What? Oh, uh no. I just don't remember the last time I've ever seen you in jeans and a t-shirt, Lassie. That's all. You look good. Really."

"I couldn't very well go to the paintball range in my suit, could I?" He let out a laugh and smiled at the ridiculousness of that idea.

"They do give you a coverall to put on over your clothes, you know." Lassiter was starting to think Spencer was disappointed that he wasn't in his suit.

"I am not about to ruin a suit in the off-chance that the coverall ripped a seam or had a hole in it that allowed any paint through."

The man still seemed to be off as he got into the passenger seat after he dropped his gear into the trunk. Lassiter closed the door and walked to the driver's side. He hesitated to pull on his seat belt when he realized that he had just held open the door for Spencer.

"Crap."

"What's wrong Lassie?"

"Oh, uh, I just noticed that I need to get gas first."

Shawn glanced down at the fuel gauge and saw that it showed half a tank.

"Don't these hybrid cars use less gas than normal ones? You should have enough for the week with half a tank, shouldn't you?"

"Yeah. I guess we'll be all right after all. Just thought it was lower than it was." He hoped Spencer bought that stupid story. When did it get so hot in the car?

"Let's just get going. O'Hara will get there before we do at this rate. I'll get gas later."

"Good idea."

When they arrived at the Paintball range, Juliet was, in fact, already waiting for them. She was also dressed down in clothes that she could have been painting in: jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. Shawn was the only one who looked like he always did- rumpled shirts and all. O'Hara was the only one that didn't have her own gear, judging by the fact she didn't bring in a bag.

"Wow, you two are serious about the game aren't you?" She asked when she saw their gear bags.

"I'm borrowing Gus' gun. He doesn't use it much after what we call the paintball to the groin incident two years ago. It really is amazing how much those little balls hurt... well... your balls, I guess."

Juliet laughed, but Lassiter didn't think it was too funny.

"Spencer, you keep your balls aimed away from my... keep it above the waist, is what I'm trying to say."

"Sure thing Lassiteros."

Once they were all geared up the range official gave them their safety speech. They were split between three groups on the field. Spencer was on the blue team, Lassiter the red and O'Hara on the yellow.

Lassiter was fairly decided that the three of them were the most experienced on the field for this round. So he planned it out to pick off the other team's members and leave Spencer and O'Hara for last. If they got taken out before he did, it would be less work in the end. What he hadn't counted on was that his team of four was made up of a dental hygienist, a pet store clerk, a bank teller and a college student that worked at a nearby Starbucks on a date with one of the members on OHara's team.

He was chosen as Team Leader unanimously and without question. But he had no idea how hard that was going to be until they got on the field. All four of them tried to hide immediately behind him and he had to nearly physically place them in positions around the obstacles. His team had no chance unless he went around on his own to eliminate the others.

After a grueling thirty minutes of hide and seek, it seemed to be only the three co-workers of the SBPD. Lassiter was so intent on finding Spencer that when he did happen upon the man's hiding spot that he hadn't watched his own back. Yellow paint splattered across his side just moments before yellow paint splashed Spencer's back.

"Yes! Haha. Got both of you. I win! Figured that if I followed you, Carlton, you'd lead me to Shawn and then I could take you both out."

"O'Hara. I cannot believe that you shot your partner first before Spencer." He was truly conflicted. He wanted to compliment O'Hara on her strategy and at the same time he was pissed she was able to get behind him without being noticed.

"Sorry, partner. But I had to eliminate the greater threat first."

"Hey, now, what am I dried up sausage bits?"

The three of them headed back to the locker rooms to change. Apparently Spencer didn't like that O'Hara didn't see him as the more immediate threat in her scenario.

"Lassiter was on the move, you were stationary and looking in the opposite direction, Shawn. If I had shot at you first, Lassiter would have seen it and returned fire faster than I could. So, he had to go first."

"Fine."

While they removed their borrowed coveralls and their stowed their gear, Lassiter felt uncomfortable with the silence.

"She was right you know."

"That you're were a bigger threat? Of course you'd say that."

"Look, Spencer I am just as disappointed as you are. I didn't get to shoot you, once again. O'Hara took the shot while I hesitated to get a better shot."

When they regrouped in the parking lot, Shawn suggested going to dinner, but Juliet had other plans with a college friend. So she gave them both goodbyes and waved as she drove off.

"She psychoanalyzed us, or you anyway, you realize that? She knew you'd go for me when we were all that was left."

"Yes, she did."

"She's quite impressive."

"Yes she is."

"Lucky for us she's on the side for good, not evil."

"True."

Lassiter popped the trunk to his car and they both threw in their gear. As he walked to the driver's door, his stomach growled and he figured dinner was a good idea.

"Alright, Spencer. Where would you like to go to pick up dinner? I'm hungry and you already suggested the idea, so don't look at me like that, or I will just drop your ass off at your apartment and let you figure out dinner on your own."

"Look at you like what? I was just a little surprised you'd go with me to dinner, that's all." Lassiter thought he saw Spencer's eyes light up, but decided to ignore what he saw. There could be no way that Spencer could be thinking what Lassiter had thought he was thinking.

"So that leaves the question still open. Where do you want to go?"

"There's a good burger place just a couple blocks from my apartment and it's on the way. Let's go there."

"Okay. Burgers it is."

It would be just burgers between co-workers after a good, but somewhat unsatisfying, round of paintball.

During their dinner, Spencer talked around so many things that Lassiter felt almost dizzy to try and keep up. He didn't catch on to many of Spencer's 80's movie references, and the other man had so much trouble staying on any particular subject for any length of time. Lassiter was reminded of the numerous first dates he had recently where they would try and find common ground on any subject.

Is that what he's doing, trying to find a subject they both have an interest? Carlton knew the man liked puzzles, maybe not physical puzzles with actual pieces to put together. But challenge puzzles. So, when a seemingly generic man in a sweater vest entered the restaurant, Carlton had an idea.

"Spencer, enough of the crazy hummingbird-like conversation. I pose this challenge to you. We both take a few minutes to observe that man (he nodded in the direction of Sweater Vest) and before he orders, we both write down what we observed and see if we can tell what that guy will order." Carlton passed Spencer a paper napkin and a pencil from the table.

"Our time is up when the waitress asks if she can take his order and the drink order won't count."

"This is just like Clue! Challenge accepted!"

Both men started casually watching the man and wrote down what they suspected about the man. Lassiter couldn't believe how focused Spencer was and found that he was having some fun with this as well. When the waitress came to the man's table, pad in hand; both men dropped their pencils. They listened to hear what Sweater Vest ordered.

Carlton and Shawn read each other's napkins. They both got most of the order right, but Lassiter was amazed that Spencer's deduction was completely correct. There were things Spencer saw that Lassiter hadn't at first. Now that he looked again with hindsight, it all fit into place. All were correct except one observation that Spencer had written.

"How do you suspect this? You wrote that he is here to meet up with the man sitting next to him. He hasn't even spoken to the guy he's sitting next to at the counter." Lassiter thought Spencer just made this one up.

"He hasn't spoken to the man, but watch how he leans in to grab an extra napkin or how he reaches for the ketchup on his left when the ketchup on his right is clearly closer."

Lassiter finished his burger and watched Sweater Vest a little longer to try and see what Spencer saw. He started to think Spencer was still grasping at imaginary straws when the man on Sweater Vest's left asked for the ketchup back. As they exchanged the bottle their hands touched and their fingers brushed against each others. Spencer was totally right. He jumped slightly in his seat when he felt Spencer's hand on his thigh.

"Carly, you're leering at the guy. He might get the wrong idea. You should probably stop watching him so intently."

Lassiter brought his eyes back to their table but Spencer hadn't removed his hand from the place on his leg. He was sure that if anyone were watching them, they would have thought that they were together tonight.

"Well, Spencer. That was really impressive. One day you'll have to tell me how you figured all of that out. For now, I'll go pay the check."

"Oh, let me pay for my half." Carlton realized how rare it was for Spencer to offer to pay for anything, so he waited as the other man gave him the cash for his own dinner. "There you go. I'll meet you at your car, I have to use the little boy's room before we leave."

Lassiter paid the check and went to his car. As he sat and waited for Spencer to return, he watched Sweater Vest and his friend leave the restaurant together. Well, almost together. They each paid their individual checks and then left without even a word between them. When they got to the parking lot, they both got into the same car and left.

They were obviously hiding whatever relationship they had from someone. Lassiter knew that kind of strain on a relationship and hoped he wouldn't have to endure that kind of scrutiny the next time around. Sure his workplace was stereotypically seen as inhospitable for same-sex partners, but being the spouse of a police officer was difficult no matter the gender involved. He wasn't a green-around-the gills rookie anymore either that would tolerate any kind of bullying from anyone at the station. He had built his reputation as the by the book, hot-collared and stubborn Head Detective. He hoped that reputation and his work ethic would keep away any sort of undue animosity.

But he would deal with that if it showed up. With his luck in dating, he would probably end up being that cranky old guy at the end of the street that yelled at kids because they cut the corner through his lawn.

Shawn finally made it back to the car and Lassiter drove him back to his apartment in silence, despite Spencer's efforts to engage in any kind of conversation. When he pulled up to Spencer's place, he popped the trunk open.

"See you tomorrow Lassie. If the Chief calls us for a case."

"Yeah."

"Are you okay? You seem like you've gone someplace else."

"I'm fine. Just thinking that all those stories we heard as kids where people found their soul mates for forever and lived Happily Ever After were just a bunch of crap. Even when you find someone it's not guaranteed they'll stay with you, no matter what."

"You're thinking about that couple in the restaurant, right? They are hiding how they felt from others. Theirs is not an easy road and the Happily part of Ever After might not ever be met? I'm sure it's not like that for everyone, Lassie. I still hope to meet my Prince Charming or Maid Marion and we'll ride into the sunset like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

"I don't think that movie ended the way you're thinking, Spencer."

"Maybe it was a different movie. Either way, don't give up Lassie. I know I'm not." Shawn got out and grabbed his bag. "See you later. Thanks for joining me for the game and the burger."

"Bye Spencer."

Lassiter made sure Shawn got inside the apartment complex before he headed home and went straight to bed.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 2-**


	3. Chapter 3-Payphone (3)

**Warnings:** There is a little bit of the guys getting together here, but not that much, yet!

**Notes:** This is an incredibly looong chapter, so you may need a break or a snack in the middle. :)

* * *

The last three days of Carlton Lassiter's life had been good, bad and torturous. Not all at the same time, but it had definitely been a long three days. Friday had finally arrived and with it more of the good: today he would meet Victoria at her lawyer's office and finally end their arduous marriage. It also came with more of the bad: another dead body had been found yesterday with no identification and the Chief had decided to include the Psych consultant team. Which would not have meant anything terribly bad, if it wasn't for the fact that Carlton had started to have not just nightly erotic dreams that involved the attractive psychic, but he had caught himself daydreaming about the man during work hours as well. One of the daydreams had gotten so heated that when he snapped back to reality he rushed to the men's room, closed a stall door and for the first time, ever, he jerked himself off at the station. The torture would continue as well, since Carlton would have to deal with his obviously horny libido while he worked all day with the subject of his recent fantasies. That was until three-thirty, when he would have to end his shift early to make the lawyer's appointment- back to the good part of his day. But he would have to figure out how to survive until then.

Detective Lassiter decided that the best course of action would be to make himself as busy as possible at work. He had noticed that it was during the down times, or boring meetings that his mind wandered. So, if he tried his best to avoid these lulls in the workday, he should be able to handle himself (without handling himself).

He entered the station with a list of items to check off in mind to keep moving. He dropped his briefcase at his desk and then made himself a coffee. He did this himself to avoid the wait time it would take to have McNab bring him a coffee. Carlton then directed himself to the file room to dig up the file he and O'Hara had turned in just days ago with the first unidentified body. He only got halfway down the hallway when Spencer and Guster crossed his path. Carlton had been so intensely focused on getting to his destination that he nearly crashed into Shawn.

"Lassie! I'm surprised to see you here."

"Shawn, the man works here. Why would it be surprising to see him here?"

"Well, I didn't realize that he was going to greet us into the building, Gus. That's the surprising part."

"Spencer. I was on my way to the file room, I wasn't waiting for you two dunderheads."

"Where's Jules? We are supposed to meet with you two and see if we can help on the case."

"She's not in yet. And I am on my way to get the original report from the first dead body, now that we are thinking they are related. Why don't you two go to the conference room and wait."

"Good idea." Shawn moved out of Lassiter's way and let the detective continue on to his destination.

Once inside the file room, Lassiter closed the door and leaned against it, closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He had to make it through the day, a shortened day at that, but he hadn't figured that the close proximity of working with Spencer into his plan. He hadn't realized just how badly he found himself crushing on the other man.

What the hell is wrong with you detective? You are a grown man pull yourself together. You've got work to do.

He took another deep breath to mentally motivate himself to continue. It didn't take Carlton too long to find the file and just as he went to open the door to exit the room, Spencer walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Why are you in here? And why did you close the door? I found the file, let's get to the conference room."

Carlton shifted his stance nervously; he really didn't want to be in the small room alone with Spencer. Actually, he really did want to be alone with Spencer, and that was why he had to get out as quickly as possible.

"Last night, when Gus came back from his conference, I remembered that I hadn't thanked you properly for spending the evening with me the other night. If you hadn't gone to the paintball range and dinner with me, who knows what kind of trouble or mess I could have caused. Then Gus would have been angry with me for something or other. So, thanks for keeping me company."

Spencer took two steps towards Carlton and Carlton took a step backwards, but was stopped by the file cabinet. The other man was now entirely too close for Carlton's comfort.

"You know, O'Hara went with you too," He tried to distract Spencer and to find a way around him to get out of the room. "You could have just thanked us both in the conference room. Which is where we need to be."

This is ridiculous. He wasn't some shy teenager, damn it. He felt the tips of ears start to turn red as he moved forward, into the other man's body to physically move him out of his path. He had to brush against nearly every part of Spencer's front in order to get passed him and reach the door. He already knew how his own body had reacted to this interaction, but he was very surprised to feel Spencer's hard on as he pressed passed.

Carlton's heart rate increased to the point that he got semi-dizzy. Jesus, how was he supposed to function today after that?

"Lassie. Aren't you forgetting about something?"

Lassiter turned around once the door was open.

"What did I forget Spencer?"

Shawn looked over his own shoulder towards the top of the file cabinet where Lassiter's coffee mug sat.

"Shit." Carlton exhaled and made to reach for the cup, but Spencer moved directly in front of him at the same time. Now the two of them were pressed against each other so closely that there was no way either of them could deny what was happening below their belts. "Spencer."

"Yes, detective?" Shawn's voice vibrated onto Lassiter's throat and Carlton felt what he imagined was the other man's lips press onto him at the same spot. The sensation rippled through his body and he shook so much that he nearly spilled the coffee from the mug as he brought it down from the top of the cabinet.

"Oh God." Lassiter stepped away from Shawn and turned to leave the room. "Conference room." He looked over his shoulder once more. "We have a case to work."

Carlton pulled his suit jacket closed and held the file folder a little lower to conceal things as he walked toward the conference room. He was relieved to find that O'Hara had made it in and had already joined Guster.

"Where's Shawn?" Gus looked past Lassiter and down the hall to find his friend. He looked worried about something.

"He was right behind me. What? I'm not his keeper, he's an adult and he knows where the conference room is. Was I expected to hold his hand and lead him into the room?"

Carlton sat down as Shawn entered with his usual bluster.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. I sensed that someone in the station needed a little Spencer-fication before I was holed up in here with you three for the day."

"Whatever you say, Shawn." O'Hara smiled back at her psychic friend and Lassiter just glared across the room at no one in particular. This was going to be the longest short shift of his life.

It was inevitable in Carlton's mind that he would start to daydream when things slowed down. The four of them were each concentrating on different aspects of the files and the room had gone quiet while notes were taken and thoughts were turning. His mind started to wander almost immediately.

He caught himself staring at Spencer's body and how he moved. He was slightly impressed at how focused the man's eyes were as he scanned through the photographs. It looked to Lassiter like Shawn was trying to absorb every little detail of every picture he looked at. His mind thought back to the night he went to the burger place with Shawn. How Shawn was able to observe the couple in the restaurant and deduce so many details was truly remarkable. To Carlton, the idea that someone could be so good at creating a profile of a complete stranger with so little information was a complete turn on. He liked to think that his ability to profile someone was one of his top skills, so to find someone just as good as- dare he think better than- he was... yes, it turned him on.

He didn't know how long he had sat at the table just caught up in his thoughts about the other man across from him , but it was obviously long enough that his partner took to waving her hand in front of his face and she even snapped her fingers before returned to the case at hand.

"Carlton, did you see anything interesting or did you somehow fall asleep with your eyes open?"

"Dude, you can do that too? The chief so creeped me out with that once in her office."

"I wasn't asleep, I was just thinking. There has to be something to go on that links the two of these guys besides the way they were killed. Neither of their fingerprints was in our system, which means they were never arrested or charged with anything."

Lassiter walked to the whiteboard on the wall and started a list. But Spencer suddenly flipped through some pages quickly and then smiled when he looked up.

"I think there is a link. Maybe. It's a little hazy, though." Shawn ripped a piece of paper from Lassiter's notepad and held first one photo then the second up to the room's window and traced something. When he held it up, it was some sort of a symbol or logo.

"I think that both of these men had gone to the same bar or club or something before they died. Someone might know them, if we find out what this symbol is."

O'Hara took the piece of paper and made copies. She put one into the case file then handed the others to Gus and Lassiter.

It didn't take too long for Lassiter to recognize the symbol as a stamp that was used by a gay/lesbian nightclub downtown. He looked at the others in the room, as they seemed stumped. O'Hara had opened her laptop to start an image search.

Crap. This is going to be embarrassing. He took a deep breath before he spoke.

"I recognize this. A club downtown uses this stamp to identify their VIP customers to the staff. Someone there will know who they are."

"That's great. So, what's the name and when do we go to ask questions?" O'Hara tacked the logo Spencer had drawn onto the whiteboard.

"They don't open their doors until eight. Someone should be there early, like the owner or manager. So, O'Hara and I could try tonight around six or six-thirty."

"What's the name of the club, Lassie?" Lassiter saw a smirk on the man's face and Lassiter felt himself blush once again. Damn.

"It's called the Cathedral Station." Carlton answered quickly and Juliet started typing the name in her computer. He sat down in his chair again. She looked right at him with her eyebrow raised when the she pulled up the club's website.

"I've never heard of the Cathedral Station. Have you, Shawn?" Guster turned to his friend for any response.

"Nope. I'm not really a clubbing type of guy, though." The look that Shawn was giving Lassiter, though, was something unreadable. Lassiter felt like Shawn had caught him doing something he shouldn't have.

O'Hara spoke up as she closed her laptop and stretched. "I say we wrap this up for now. I'm hungry. Lassiter and I will interview some of the employees of the club tonight. Will you guys be free to stop by tomorrow as we go over their statements? Shawn?"

"Yeah we can be here, right buddy?"

"Actually, Shawn I have a new route that starts Monday and I need to be prepared. So, I think you'll be on your own."

"Oh." Carlton saw Shawn's expression change and he felt bad for the consultant. Although only slightly. "I'll be here tomorrow. I'll bring muffins!"

"You drive a motorcycle, Spencer. How will you carry muffins on that?"

"Right. Forgot. How about you bring the muffins and I'll pay you back?" Spencer's mood returned to perky.

"Lassiter, don't do it. He won't pay you back."

"Whatever."

The four of them disbanded from the conference room and once the two best friends were far enough away from earshot, Juliet pulled her partner to her desk.

"The Cathedral Station is a gay and lesbian nightclub. Carlton, how is it that you recognized their VIP stamping logo? You've been there before haven't you?"

And that's the question he had wanted to avoid. He was grateful that she hadn't asked that in the other room when the club's website loaded.

He could easily make up a story or a lie, but he had decided early on that partners shouldn't keep secrets or lie. Especially when asked direct questions like that. Besides, whatever story he'd make up would unravel as soon as they entered the club and started speaking with the owner or the manager.

"Yes, I've been there. I actually worked on their security team for about two years before I passed the detective's exam. I have stayed in contact with the owner and the manager since then. Usually to help out with employee background checks, things like that."

He had answered his partner's question honestly. He could see she wanted to ask more questions, but he was glad she didn't.

"You said you were hungry. Let's go eat."

"Can I pick where we go this time?"

"As long as I drive."

"Agreed."

* * *

Carlton walked into the law firm's lobby ten minutes early for his appointment. He had stopped at his bank on the way in order to get a cashier's check made out for the five grand Victoria wanted for the ring. He let the secretary know he was here and sat down to wait. He wished he had brought something to read or something to keep his mind engaged. Just as he reached for one of the magazines off the table, he caught the reflection of a certain someone who wasn't supposed to be anywhere near here in one of the hallway mirrors. He stood up and quickly made his way over the man trying to hide behind a potted plant.

"Spencer!" He wanted to be forceful, but didn't want to yell. "What the hell are you doing here? How did you know I would be here?"

"Really, Lassie? You think I'm here because of you? I mean, I do have a life that doesn't revolve around you."

"Then tell me, why are you here?" Carlton knew his tone was too loud, so he leaned in closer to Shawn so he could speak to the man without raising his voice.

Unfortunately, that put them in a position that had Shawn up against the wall with their chests nearly touching. Lassiter's hands gripped Shawn's shoulders, but when their eyes met, all the anger he displayed earlier just disappeared. Shawn looked right back at him and Carlton leaned in closer. He closed his eyes as the scent of Spencer's cologne, or soap, or whatever was on the man, triggered his memory. Carlton saw himself sitting in the passenger seat of a car and Shawn was so close to him, reaching behind him for something that he couldn't quite remember. The man's neck was exposed to him and Carlton leaned in and nuzzled into it.

How had he not noticed this before? Why didn't he figure this out when they were in the file room earlier?

His voice was nearly a whisper when he spoke. "You did drive me home that night, didn't you?"

"What night?" Spencer's eyes widened when he realized what Carlton was asking him about. "Oh, that night..."

"Carlton Thomas Lassiter! What in God's name..."

"Oh shit." Carlton cleared his throat, backed away from Shawn and stood up to his full height before turning around. "Victoria."

Victoria Parker-Lassiter was furious and Carlton could guess the reason. He could imagine just how it looked to her as she walked in and saw the way he was standing next to Shawn at that moment. She grabbed his suit jacket sleeve and pulled him further down the hall away from everyone.

"What were you thinking bringing your little boy toy to our appointment? Were you trying to piss me off, Carlton?"

"What? No. He's not..."

"You know what? I don't want to know! This is embarrassing enough having to come all the way down here. I wanted this to be over for so long... but no, you just wouldn't let go. And the moment you decide it's over, I have to drop everything I'm doing to come down here. Only I find you making out in the hallway of my attorney's office! For God's sake."

"Victoria, that is not..."

"Let's just get this over with. You have no idea what I have had to do to keep your little indiscretions during our marriage from my family, or from being included in the reasons to dissolve this marriage. And you just bring this man along to what? Rub my face in it?"

Carlton looked away from Victoria and into the lobby where Shawn stood next to a man he recognized as Victoria's new boyfriend. Two could play this game, he thought.

"And you didn't intend to use Evan, there, for that same purpose? Rub your relationship in my face? I had still been trying to make my case against what you thought you saw that night, but never let me explain, when you started seeing that guy!"

His voice grew louder and carried over to the two men in the lobby. Evan seemed embarrassed, and Carlton couldn't read the look on Spencer's face.

"God Carlton, who knew you to be so crass?" She stormed away from him. "Let's get this over with already."

Thankfully the lawyer didn't make them wait after their display in the lobby. Victoria and Carlton were led into the main conference room where Victoria sat next to her attorney and Carlton sat alone across from her. He had chosen long ago not to hire an attorney on his own behalf. He figured he knew how argue all on his own without having to pay a middleman.

Victoria never even looked at him the entire time they went over the paperwork, which made him even angrier at this whole situation. Initials and signatures were placed after each paragraph that detailed things such as alimony- she wasn't asking for any, and division of community property- most of which had already been split. When the subject of the ring came up, Carlton reached into his briefcase for the cashier's check, in anticipation of Victoria's demand.

"Forget the money, Carlton. I don't want anything else from you."

"But it was what you asked for in order to give the ring back. I pay my debts, Victoria."

"What? Now you try to act all honorable, when just thirty minutes ago, I caught you in the arms of a man? Christ, Carlton do you think I can even look at that money and not think about how you've embarrassed me today?"

Lassiter had had enough.

"How I have embarrassed you today? You started judging me and berating me the moment you walked in that lobby door. You never once thought about asking me about what you supposedly saw either today or two years ago. Both times you just assumed what you wanted to assume. I don't think you ever wanted to marry me to begin with. I think you saw me as a way to rebel against your father. You knew how much he detested me and what I had chosen as a career. I thought you wanted to be with me because you may have liked what we had together back then. I was so wrong."

"Was I naive to think you'd be able to look passed some of the things that I had confessed to you in private before our wedding? Obviously, I was since you took every chance you could to throw it back in my face for every damned argument we ever had. You want to know the truth? I'm glad you turned out to be so bitter and untrusting. I am actually happy that you never believed me when I told you I hadn't had an affair with anyone, female or male, before we split. Want to know why?"

He stopped yelling to catch his breath before he continued. Victoria's face was red with embarrassment and anger, but she held her tongue to let him finish.

"Because all of that distrust and spite led to today, right here and right now. I finally get to rid myself of all your hate and disapproval. I can finally say to you: I do not need you in my life anymore, Victoria."

Carlton sat back down. He felt good once all of that had been said. And apparently it had shut her up as well. Her attorney confirmed her decision to reject Carlton's check for the ring and they both had to sign another piece of paper to verify it all. In the end, Victoria gave him the ring and they both left the room to go their separate ways. Neither of them looked back or even said a goodbye.

Carlton walked all the way out to the parking lot before he realized that he hadn't seen Spencer in the lobby. He stopped and checked the lot, but didn't see him anywhere. He hadn't invited the man to the appointment, but somehow he had become the focal point of the meeting. And the argument that it had sparked had not only gotten so much off his chest, but it had also saved him five thousand dollars. Carlton got into the Ford Fusion and dialed Spencer's cell phone. The least he could do is thank the man.

Just as he inserted his key into the ignition, the song lyrics "You're a genius, you've got it all figured out." rang out from his backseat. He didn't even need to guess who it was.

"Spencer. I looked back there before I got in, how the hell did you get back there?"

"Um, whatever do you mean, Lassie?"

"Whatever. Just get your ass in the front seat before I start driving."

"Sure thing." Shawn unfolded himself from the floorboards and got out the back to return to the front and get in. "I'm sorry for what went down in there. It wasn't my intention to cause such a kerfuffle or get you in trouble with the ex."

"It wasn't your fault, Spencer. And I didn't get into trouble with the ex." Carlton waited for Shawn to snap his seat belt. "Wait. How did you get here?"

"I took the bus. Would it be too much trouble to drive me home?"

"No trouble. Consider it paying back the favor of you driving me home that night from Tom Blair's."

"You would still owe me for getting you inside your house. That was not an easy task. I should be discussing your eating habits after having to haul your deceptively heavy self."

"There is still the question of how I ended up in my boxers that morning." Carlton's eyebrow arched and glanced over at Shawn. The other man had quite a blush rising on his face.

"Okay, so maybe I still owe you one. But I swear, nothing happened that night. Your virtue was safe that night, not that it was easy for me to leave you once I made sure you were tucked in."

Now it was Carlton's turn to blush. He cleared his throat as he stopped at a stoplight.

"Actually, I do still owe you for today. I'm not sure why you were there or how you even knew I would be there. I don't want to know, honestly. I am... glad... you were there."

"What? Why? Victoria Parker really looked pissed when she thought you and I..."

"Oh, she was seriously ticked off. But it also threw her off her game. You inadvertently ended up saving me a lot of money today Spencer. So let me buy you dinner before I drop you home, okay?"

"Sure. Pick up or dine in?"

"Your choice. However, I have to meet O'Hara at the Cathedral Station in an hour and a half and I still need to get home and change."

"Pick up it is. I'm easy."

Carlton thought there had to be a better way to phrase that, but let it slide either way.

* * *

After dropping Spencer at his apartment with his bag of tacos, Lassiter went home to change into a fresh shirt and change his tie before he grabbed a quick take-out dinner that he ate as he drove.

He had bought Spencer dinner, but a $15 meal didn't feel like it was a big enough thank you for saving him five grand. Maybe he'd ask O'Hara her opinion after they had talked to the club owner.

Juliet and Carlton arrived within minutes of each other, walked to the front of the club, badges visible, and rang the bell by the door.

The door opened and a well-dressed attractive man opened the door.

"Officer Lassiter! What a surprise. What do we owe for the visit?"

"Hayden. It's Detective Lassiter now. This is my partner, Detective O'Hara. O'Hara, this is Mr. Hayden, he's the owner of the Cathedral Station."

Mr. Hayden shook Juliet's hand and let them both into the club.

"Come on, Carlton. No need to be so formal, is there?" Hayden turned to Juliet. "It's Nico. Nice to meet you and is your name actually O'Hara?"

"That's my last name, Mr. Hayden. Juliet O'Hara. But we are here on official police business. Is there some place we can talk? Is your manager here? He may be able to help us on this case as well."

"Oh, of course. We can talk in my office. I'll text Tim and have him join us there." He pulled out his cell phone and started typing as he walked.

Mr. Hayden led the detectives down the hallway, up two flights of stairs and into his office that had windows that overlooked the entire nightclub below.

Juliet was impressed by the place. "This is a very nice club you have here. I am surprised I hadn't heard about it until this morning."

"Well, we are a little off from the main part of town and we do cater to a specific crowd."

"Right. But one wouldn't necessarily have to be gay or lesbian to come here would they? I mean, your business does serve to everyone, right?"

Nico looked to Lassiter who had been letting O'Hara take lead in this visit so far.

"Sure. Not every customer we have is gay, lesbian or bi. But we find that most heteros find the atmosphere a bit uncomfortable."

"Hmm. It is still a nice place. I wouldn't mind coming here for a drink or two."

"Hayden, the reason we're here is that we have two deceased males in our morgue and we believe that you and your manager might be able to help us identify them. They were found with your VIP stamp on their wrists."

"Well, as you know, Detective Lassiter, if they have the VIP stamp then we most likely would know who they are. I assume you have some kind of photos of these men and you'd want us to take a look?" Hayden cleared his throat. The man was obviously uncomfortable with the idea of looking at photos of dead people. "Let's just wait for Tim, though, can we? Just so you won't have to pull them out twice?"

"Sure." Carlton laid the file on Hayden's desk. When Tim, the manager, walked in, Lassiter stood up and greeted the man. Tim seemed genuinely surprised to see Lassiter and when Lassiter reached his hand out for a handshake, Tim ignored it and pulled him in for a hug instead. Lassiter's face flushed at the embrace and he pulled away to introduce his partner.

"Oh, always the lucky one weren't you, Carlton?" O'Hara held her hand out to shake his hand, but Tim leaned in and kissed her hand. She blushed as well at Tim's welcome.

"It's Detective Lassiter now, Tim." Hayden interjected as the three settled into their chairs.

"Really? You really did pass that exam, huh?"

"Yes."

"Carlton is actually Santa Barbara's Head Detective. We are all a little intimidated by him at the station."

"Thank you, O'Hara. Maybe we can all catch up at some later time? Tim, as we already made Nico aware; two of your VIP customers were murdered and we have been unsuccessful at identifying them. If the two of you wouldn't mind too much and look at the photos, you might be able to tell us who they are?"

"Okay. I'll do my best."

Both men took deep breaths as Lassiter opened the folder and pulled out the photos.

"Oh my God. Nico, that's Ted and Doug."

Tim looked at the detectives and his face turned pale. "Doug's really dead? He told me he would be out of town a few days. He was supposed to be back Monday." Tim started to tear up. It was obvious he was in a relationship with Doug.

"O'Hara. Why don't you take Tim back to the station so he can make a positive ID. Get his statement about why Doug was supposed to be out of town. I'll stay here and see if I can get more information."

"Sure." She stood helped Tim to his feet and led him out the door. The man was terribly distraught. "I am so sorry about this. Let's go to the station and we'll make sure one way or the other."

"Okay."

Lassiter had his notebook ready and got the information from Nico about which man was Ted and which was Doug. He also learned that Tim and Doug had been together for over five years.

"Tim is going to be a mess if that really is Doug. I know your split with Tim with mutual, you two really never fit that well, but Doug really made Tim light up. It was amazing to watch the two of them. They just had that spark, you know?"

"I hope to hell, for Tim, that it isn't Doug in our morgue. Has he tried calling him recently?"

"He said something about Doug not being available by phone until Sunday, but I don't remember the why."

"How about your security feed, can I take a look at the discs? Maybe we can see if our victims had met anyone here that we can question to get more answers?"

"Well, yeah, of course. We open in half an hour, though. Would you mind being able to do that on your own? Since it's obvious Tim's not going to be able to work tonight, no matter how things turn out at your station, I'll have to cover for him."

"If you don't mind me in your security room once again, I won't mind being there."

"I'll have Wendy, our new bartender, bring you up whatever you'd like while you're here."

"Keep the cranberry juice coming, Nico."

The two men caught up a little as they worked their way to the security room.

"Head Detective for the SBPD, huh? That's got to feel pretty damn good, right?"

"Most days it does, some days are harder than others, though."

"How's that pretty lady you were with? Vicky?"

"Victoria. I married her, actually. And today, I signed the divorce papers."

"Wow. Time flies am I right? Sorry I hadn't asked over the years we've sent you our employee files for security checks. Life gets busy, I guess. So, marriage and divorce in 10 years? You signed the papers today?"

"About an hour before I got here."

"So, then it's pretty safe to say you haven't already started dating again?"

"Nico, I'm still not interested in you that way man." Carlton smirked a little and Nico let out a laugh.

"Just making small talk. Besides, Frank has me tied down pretty well these days."

"That makes you guys what into 15 years now?"

"That's right. One day when laws change, he'll make an honest man out of me yet."

A loud buzzer sounded through the club that announced to the staff that it was time to open the doors to the customers. The music started and the club's lights turned on.

"Gotta go. Good luck, detective. I'll have Wendy up with your juice, you lush!"

Carlton had spent an hour and a half running through the DVDs to find when their two victims had last been at the club. O'Hara had texted and confirmed that Tim's Doug was one of the men in the morgue, about an hour ago. He had taken a break to hit the head and stretch his legs and upon his return he glanced up at the live feeds on the security screens.

"Sweet Justice, what the hell is he doing here?" Right up front on the center monitor was the one and only Shawn Spencer.

Lassiter texted Nico Spencer's description and asked to have him sent up to the security booth. He watched on the monitors as Nico approached Shawn and led him to the back hall to where he would be met by Carlton.

Carlton waited at the door and watched Shawn cautiously open the door and check inside the hall before he entered. He saw Lassiter immediately and relaxed.

"Oh thank God you're in here. I didn't know if I was being led to some doorway to death or what. The man just said someone wanted to see me back here.

"I was going through the surveillance video and saw you on the security feed. What are you doing here?"

"Boredom makes men do some incredibly dumb things, Lassie. Once I ate those tacos you bought me- which were awesome, by the way, I ran out of things to do and American Duos had their season finale last week, so there wasn't anything else to watch, and I really wasn't in the mood to start watching my Deadwood DVDs yet, AND since I knew you and Jules were stopping by tonight... Wait. Where's Jules?"

Lassiter grabbed Shawn by the elbow and led him to the security room. "She's at the station. Apparently, one of our victims was the manager's partner. She helped him make the positive ID and is taking his statement now. Tim's pretty devastated."

Shawn's eyes met Lassiter's at the use of the manager's first name. "You must have known Tim fairly well? You don't ever use anyone's first names. Ever. I don't even think you know my first name, Lassie."

"Spencer, of course I know your first name. You can't judge since you never use any of my names correctly."

"Because Lassiter seems so... formal and you are already so starched and pressed. Carlton just seems so old-fashioned. Lassie is just more fun and rolls off my tongue easier."

Lassiter couldn't help that his gaze went to Shawn's mouth at the mention of tongues. Suddenly he was too well aware that he was once again alone with the man and his body seemed to become aware and hopeful at the situation.

Shawn's hand landed on Carlton's thigh with a slap. "Earth to Lassie... "

"Hmm? What, Spencer?"

"Would you like a second set of eyes to help with the security footage? Or we could take advantage of this awesomely private room instead." His hand started to move up along Carlton's thigh and for just a moment Carlton entertained thoughts of abandoning the footage and taking Spencer up on his playful offer. Not only was there a case to work, but also he hadn't decided if Shawn was being serious in his flirtation or if he was just playing around. Either way, Tim was counting on Lassiter and his team to find out who murdered his partner and why.

"Spencer. We aren't doing that in here. If you want to help, let's find out whom our victims last met at this club. It may be a stretch to think that the killer picked them up at the club, but at least it would be someone else we can interview for more information."

"Got it. I am thirsty, though. Could I go back down and..."

"Wendy should be coming back up soon, you can ask her to bring you something."

"Wendy, huh? What is it with this place, Lassie? You're using people's first names left and right around here!"

"Are you going to help or not?"

"Fine. I'll check this half over here, is that acceptable, Lassiter?"

"That's Detective Lassiter to you, Spencer." He felt himself grinning as he messed with the man.

"Whatever, Detective." Shawn stuck his tongue out as turned to his monitor.

The two men sat and watched the monitors for another hour. They took screen captures of the people that were shown talking with the victims with the intention of showing them to Nico Hayden for identification. There weren't many so Lassiter hoped the interview process wouldn't take too long to narrow down their suspect list.

O'Hara had called to let Lassiter know that Tim's statement had been taken and that Buzz and driven him home. She had seemed drained over the phone, so Lassiter told her to head home herself and that they'd share information tomorrow.

"Spencer, let's get out of this room." Carlton stood and stretched his long limbs as a loud pop came from his back. He wasn't used to sitting as long as had today.

"Sounds good. Where are we going?"

"Well, I am heading to the men's room. And then I'll head down to talk to Hayden, see if he knows any of the people in the photos. I have no idea what you are going to do. I assume you have things to do. As you pointed out earlier, you have a life that doesn't revolve around me, right?" Lassiter put away the surveillance discs and headed towards the restroom. He heard Shawn's sneakers behind him and it was obvious the man was following him.

Carlton had never been shy in a restroom before, but usually he wasn't in there when someone he liked, or liked him back, was with him. Suddenly the idea of unzipping his fly in front of Spencer made him nervous.

He was the one who was following you in here. He knows what people do in bathrooms. Besides, you were in here first. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. If he looks, he looks, there was no reason to panic.

Lassiter unzipped as Spencer showed up. He didn't make a move towards the urinals, though; he chose to just wash his hands. Once he was finished, Carlton zipped up and joined Spencer at the sinks. The other man was checking his hair in the mirrors.

"You know, you never told me how you knew of this place or how you know this manager, Tim, Lassie. What's the story?"

"I didn't tell you because you hadn't asked and it's really none of your business."

"You're really not going to tell me?" Shawn turned his whole body towards Lassiter and closed the gap between them.

"I could just psychically read it from you, you know?"

"You know, I don't believe you're a psychic, Spencer. You are very good at observing people and somehow you make these deductions that are spot-on, but you'll never convince me that you are psychic."

Carlton moved to leave when Spencer grabbed the detective's suit lapels and pulled him down close. Lassiter felt Spencer's lips on his and swore he felt an electric shock go through his entire body. His lips were soft and warm and Lassiter leaned in further on his own as he opened his mouth to accommodate Shawn's tongue. His hands went to Shawn's neck and his back and Shawn bit at his bottom lip. He pulled Shawn's body to his own and pressed himself against him.

All day long, he had either thought about Shawn or daydreamed about him, hell he even fought with his ex-wife about this man. He could feel all the sexual tension he had been holding since the Vallery case bubbling up to the surface and it took everything he had to not lose himself with Spencer in this bathroom.

They kissed and pawed at each other for what seemed like hours. They took turns un-tucking each other's shirts and running their hands on each other. Their hair got tousled and Carlton's tie ended up in Shawn's back jeans pocket. Once Shawn had exposed Carlton's chest hair, he ran his tongue down the taller man's neck and he kissed and sucked the place where Carlton's collarbone met the curve of his neck. Carlton hissed and growled when Shawn bit him there and then sucked even harder. He knew that there would be a mark there by morning. He enjoyed the thought that Shawn had just marked him as his own but he was also grateful that Shawn had chosen a spot he could hide under his collar when his tie was tied.

"Spencer... Shawn." He lifted Shawn's chin so the other man was looking at his face. "This is... this feels amazing. And you are... You are amazing. And as much as I would love to continue this, I really do not want to do that here in a men's room."

"That's all right, Lassie... Carlton. I should have warned you that I don't put out on the first date, either. I said I was easy earlier, but I'm not that easy."

"Nice to know. I'll keep that in mind."

"Besides, I know how you are when you're on a case. All personal business aside until the bad guy is behind bars. I've worked with you for a while now, Carlton. You're not the only one who notices things."

"I am becoming more and more aware of that fact, Shawn. And not all personal business needs to wait until the bad guy's caught, you know. Sometimes, even I need a distraction from work."

Carlton laid one last kiss on Shawn's lips then left the restroom. He left his shirt un-tucked and unbuttoned. His hair was still mussed, but he didn't care. He sent a text to Hayden's phone letting him know that he was finished with the security video and would call him tomorrow for him to come down to the station to view the photos they had taken. He told him to thank Wendy for taking care of both he and Shawn for the time they were there. Lassiter placed the photos into the file folder and waited for Spencer in the hallway that led out the back of the club. Once Spencer joined him they had the security guy let them out.

"Please tell me you rode your motorcycle here this time, Spencer."

"Back to Spencer already? Yes, I used the motorcycle this time, Lassie-face. It's parked in the front parking lot."

"Hop in and I'll drive you around. I'm not going to leave you to walk through the alley and get jumped as soon as I leave."

"Paranoid aren't we? I have walked around town on my own before, Lassie."

"Maybe I am a little paranoid, but two people did just recently get murdered after being here. I really do not want you to become the third."

He pulled around to the front parking lot, but before Shawn he opened his door, Lassiter grabbed him and kissed him.

"Ride safe and call or text me when you get to your apartment."

"Will do. Any other orders I should follow?"

"Shut up, Shawn. Just be safe."

He watched Shawn walk to his bike, put on his helmet and pull out of the lot. He had a moment's thought to follow Spencer back to his apartment to make sure he got there safely, but decided against it. His protectiveness and overbearing demeanor stifled more than one relationship in the past. He didn't want to suffocate this one before it had even started.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 3-**


	4. Chapter 4 - Harder To Breathe (1)

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in posting... Thanks for the reviews, I do hope this lives up to any expectations as it moves the story along. Shawn and Lassiter still have some fun planned. So stay along for the ride.

* * *

Lassiter entered his house and relocked his door before removing his suit jacket. He hadn't gotten to taking off his holster before his phone vibrated, alerting him that he had a text message. It was from Shawn.

"I made it safely."

Carlton exhaled with relief that Spencer had finally listened to him about, well, anything.

"Good. See you tomorrow."

He unsnapped the belt tie-downs to his holster and stretched his shoulder muscles. Sometimes the straps seemed to pull down a bit too tight. He couldn't stand the feeling of his gun swaying under his jacket, though, so he used the tie-downs. Maybe he'd loosen the holster rig a bit to give himself a little extra room. Tomorrow. He'd adjust things in the morning. He placed his holster on the edge of the couch and sat down, finally relaxing after a long day. His phone vibrated on the coffee table.

"Don't forget the muffins. I WILL pay you back. Promise."

Right. Spencer had talked about bringing muffins to the station in the morning.

"Whatever. Good Night, Spencer."

He walked into his bedroom, changed into his nightclothes and crawled into bed. Carlton was exhausted. In the course of the day he had been flirted with, gotten divorced, been flirted with some more, found out Santa Barbara may have a serial killer walking around and then he had kissed Shawn Spencer. He stared at his ceiling and waited for his mind to realize how tired his body was.

After fifteen minutes, Carlton decided to grab himself a glass of water. He headed to his kitchen and caught sight of his phone on the dining table. It vibrated as he got closer to it and he noticed he had a reminder alert that he had been sent a text, but had yet to respond. He touched the screen and read the text from Spencer.

"Good Night, Lassie. H & Ks Mainly the Ks BTW cranberry + cinnamon = not a bad combo. Not as nice as pineapple."

"Jesus. The man is going to be the end of me, yet."

Another text came in as soon as he'd finished reading the last.

"I can't sleep, Lassie. Are you still awake?

Lassiter walked back to his room after getting the water he'd come out for. Once he was lying back down he replied.

"No. Been a long day. Need to sleep."

"Okay. See you tomorrow then."

"Thank you."

"Carlton?"

"What?"

"You're a great kisser."

"You too."

"'Night."

"Bye."

Carlton's phone was finally silent. He put it on his nightstand and turned off his light. He contemplated the cost difference in getting a larger texting plan for his cell phone. He stared at his ceiling a little longer, since his mind was still having trouble turning off enough to let him go to sleep. He wondered what it was about his attraction to Shawn that had caused his hormones to supercharge. In the course of a few weeks he'd taken to masturbating so frequently that it seemed he couldn't fall asleep without doing so.

With a final attempt to get to sleep, he took off his pajama pants, closed his eyes and began to replay the moments he'd had with Shawn. His right hand started a slow rhythm against his cock.

Carlton visualized the small file room from earlier. He was alone with Spencer and the door was locked. This time he wasn't embarrassed or nervous that the other man was in the room with him. He wasn't fighting against himself and his feelings. When Shawn got close enough, Lassiter grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him on the mouth. He didn't wait for an open-mouthed invitation; instead he roughly pushed his tongue into Shawn's mouth and pulled their hips closer together. He heard a moan coming from Shawn as their hard-ons rubbed together.

Shawn's hands pulled Lassiter's shirt out of his pants and then went inside the shirt. The contact burned into Lassiter's skin and he hissed at their warmth. "Spencer". Shawn pulled away and fell to his knees in front of Lassiter. He undid the top button and unzipped the fly. Shawn looked up into Lassiter's eyes as he freed the hot erection from his shorts. "Oh, God. Please, Spencer." He caught himself nearly begging for Shawn to suck him.

"Oh, Lassie. I have wanted this for so long." Shawn's tongue licked the entire length of his cock and circled around the tip.

"Me too, Shawn." He felt the grin on Shawn's lips, but didn't see it as Shawn's mouth captured his dick completely. He dug his fingers into Shawn's hair and let out a growl. In his fantasy, Shawn let him thrust himself hard until he was practically fucking his mouth.

Carlton's hand was pumping faster and he knew he wouldn't last much longer. In his mind he saw Shawn bobbing and sucking him off, but he needed more to reach release tonight. So, he brought a finger from his left hand to his mouth and slicked it up. He reached down around and pushed inside himself. Both hands worked to build up the pressure he wanted as he rocked back and forth between sensations.

He imagined Shawn was on the floor of the filing room still sucking on his cock and that it was Shawn's finger that was pressing inside his ass. As he came onto his sheets, his breaths were panting and Shawn's name escaped his lips.

He felt boneless for more than a few minutes and he was covered in sweat and cum. When he felt confident enough in his legs, he walked to the bathroom to clean off and used a washrag to clear off what he could from his sheets before collapsing to sleep.

* * *

Carlton woke up when his alarm went off and immediately began his morning routine. As he shaved, his mind went back to the case he and O'Hara were working. He and Shawn had gone through days' worth of security footage and had taken still captures to give to the tech guys at the station. He hoped they had processed and printed them before they took off for the weekend. O'Hara and Spencer were to meet up with him at the station for a couple hours. Lassiter wanted to get a handle on what was happening with the case so that on Monday he could approach the Chief about any warrants they'd need. He also wanted to meet up early enough for everyone to still have his or her weekend.

Guster was out doing a dry run of his new route, so Spencer was on his own with the SBPD detectives. Lassiter hoped the other man would arrive early enough to have a private conversation about what had happened between them last night.

As he headed out the door, he grabbed three bananas from his counter. He had no intention of bringing muffins like Spencer had wanted, but he wouldn't show up empty-handed. Besides, it might be fun to get to watch Spencer eat a banana.

Carlton wasn't sure if Spencer was a morning person or not, but he grinned when he saw the man's motorcycle in the parking lot and O'Hara's car wasn't there yet. Lassiter took the steps to the entrance two at a time to get to Spencer faster, but once inside, what he heard almost had him turn around and leave. Seemed Spencer had started talking to the uniformed officers about a date he'd had last night and he felt his ears blush as he neared the conversation.

"Was she hot, Shawn? Sounds like you thought she was hot." The voice sounded like McNab's.

"Oh my God, Buzz. Totally hot, I mean a lean figure, runner's body, tight abs and an ass to kill for. And the lips..." Shawn paused and Lassiter saw him lick his lips. "Tasted like cinnamon. Very nice."

"But how was the date? Did you get her back to your place or did you go to hers?" Dobson quickly added his question as he saw the Head Detective start to get closer to their gossip group.

"I only kiss and tell, fellas. It was, after all just a first date. However, there was a goodnight kiss and a promise of muffins later today."

He saw Shawn's head turn to his direction and a smile lit up the man's face with a slight rose tinge creeping up his cheeks.

"Lassie! I was just regaling these very bored guys about my date last night." He looked Carlton over from head to toe. "No tie today?"

Carlton continued to walk to his desk, which forced Shawn to end his conversation in order to keep up with the detective. McNab and Dobson went back to work down the hall.

"It's Saturday, Spencer. No tie."

"Did you bring the muffins?" Carlton shook his head.

"No. I didn't." Spencer's face lost its grin and for a brief second, Lassiter felt sorry he hadn't stopped and picked up muffins. "Maybe I'll bring in some for Monday." Instantly, Spencer's mood perked up again.

"I wouldn't want you to go hungry, Spencer." He opened his briefcase and took out one of the bananas. "Here you go."

"A banana, Lassie? Here at the station? You naughty detective."

Carlton felt the blush return. "It's just a banana. Don't eat it, if you don't want it."

"Oh, I'll eat it. Just wanted to warn you ahead of time that it could get heated when I do. The last time I ate a banana in front of someone... let's just say it ended with someone on their knees."

Carlton swallowed hard and cleared his throat at the mental picture he was just given.

"Which reminds me. Can I have a word with you? In private?"

Shawn nodded and Lassiter put his arm around his shoulders and walked with him towards the conference room.

"Do you want to talk about last night? And how we are supposed to pretend it didn't happen?"

"Yes... no!" Carlton realized his reply was a little louder than it needed to be. "I don't want to forget what happened."

He stopped walking and a strange, disappointed feeling came over him. He hadn't considered that Shawn wouldn't want to move forward with whatever they were starting.

"Do you want to forget what happened?"

"Oh, hell no. No way. I just thought you were going to have a hetero freak out and tell me it was all a mistake."

"It might be a mistake, but I don't regret what happened. Why would you think I'd have a freak out?"

"I guess, no reason. So, then, what did you want to talk about?" Shawn sat on the conference table and started to peel the banana that Carlton gave him.

"I just wanted us to be on the same page about this... whole thing. Until we know where we're going with... this, I'd like to keep it between the two of us. Unless... did you already tell Guster?"

"Um, no. I didn't want his head to explode. Figured I'd talk with you first."

Shawn opened his mouth and started to lick the banana in his hand. His tongue slowly traced up its length, practically in the same manner that Lassiter fantasized him doing to his cock last night, before following the same path back down. Lassiter couldn't help but stare at Spencer's lewd act.

"Spencer. That's not how you eat a banana."

"You have your way, I have mine."

"Oh God, Spencer." Shawn finally put the whole banana in his mouth but instead of biting it, he slowly sucked on it as he pulled it back out.

Carlton had to will himself to look away from him, but in doing so he exposed the mark on his collarbone that Shawn had made the night before.

"Um," Spencer had managed to bite into the banana and swallowed a piece. "That's a pretty dark mark I made, sorry if it hurts."

"Crap." Carton's hand went to his collar to pull it closer together. His decision to go without a tie was probably not the best. "I had forgotten about it this morning. It doesn't hurt, so don't worry about it."

"Looks good on you." Thankfully he had finished the banana and Carlton could look at him again.

"Thank you. Anyway. Can we keep us... this... between us for now? Not forever, but just for now?"

"Sure thing, Lassie."

Carlton wanted to kiss him right in the conference room, and he wondered where the sudden urges to display affection in public were coming from. He had this overwhelming want to always be in contact with Shawn. Instead of kissing him, he put his hand on Shawn's thigh and lightly squeezed.

"Did you enjoy the banana? I have another one in my briefcase if you want it."

Shawn smiled. "No, thanks. I am good right where I am at the moment."

Carlton looked down to see his hand on Shawn's thigh. He was sure there was something he could say to the other man, but he was never any good at putting words together describe what he was feeling. He moved his hand higher on Shawn's leg and gently massaged the spot. Shawn sighed and closed his eyes at the contact.

Of course, detective O'Hara chose that moment to walk into the room and Carlton stood up and put his hands in his pockets.

"Hey guys. Ready to get started? Carlton, I have the photos from the tech department."

"Lassie didn't bring the muffins, Jules. But, he does have bananas. He already gave me one."

"Oh, well, thanks but I already ate. Shawn, I heard from McNab and Dobson on the way in that you had a pretty hot date last night. Any details you'd like to share?"

Shawn was going to say something, but Lassiter interrupted.

"We have things to do. You two can gossip about Spencer's date later."

"Looks like later, Jules. Mr. Grumpypants doesn't want to hear about others' late-night happy fun times when he isn't having any of his own." Shawn heard Lassiter growl at his remark, but Shawn just winked at him before turning back to Juliet. "I'll just say one thing about my date, then drop it. It was really nice and I think I left a pretty nice hickey behind."

"Eew, Shawn. That might be too much information."

Lassiter couldn't help but pull his collar closed again.

Carlton divided the photos they had into three piles. One had pictures of Doug, the second had ones of Ted and the third included pictures of a guy that Shawn had noticed hanging around Ted and the bar area. The two detectives and Shawn started to put together a theory based on the photos.

"Both Ted and Doug are seen at the bar and ordered drinks." Juliet began, and tacked two photos to the case board.

"This guy..." Shawn grabbed four photos and placed them up as well. "Was caught on video here putting something in Ted's drink and again in this other dude's drink. But before that, both nights he's shown in a corner booth alone. Like he's watching for something."

Lassiter held three photos of his own and snapped magnets on them next to Juliet's. Shawn was still standing next to the board and when Carlton dropped his arms, his left hand brushed against Shawn's right. He moved his body to block O'Hara's view and let himself wrap his fingers around Shawn's, briefly holding his hand. He squeezed the hand before letting go.

"These are the only other photos we have of Doug the last night any one saw him. One shows him drinking his drink and in the last one, he's seen with Tim."

All three of them stared at the photos on the board. Lassiter grabbed Tim's statement from the table. When he looked up, he watched Shawn's face. The man was intensely focused as he stared at the pictures.

"Lassie, these photos have the timestamp from the camera on them. Look, these three are out of order."

Lassiter and O'Hara worked the photos in order and Lassiter had a theory.

"Okay. So, Doug ordered a drink, but then left to talk to Tim." He pointed at the photos as he talked. "The bartender puts his drink down, but this guy is standing next to the drink when this scumbag drops whatever he has inside it."

"This guy is oblivious to the drink next to him, he's not even looking at it." O'Hara was on his train of thought.

"Doug comes back to the bar, finds his drink sitting there and drinks it."

"Bad move. Maybe he was so distracted by his argument that he didn't realize what a bad decision that was?" Shawn grabbed a marker and made a circle around the photo.

"Maybe. Either way," Lassiter pointed at the guy in the photo Shawn circled. "Doug was not the intended victim. This guy was."

Shawn and Juliet sat down at the table. Lassiter stayed standing, but rested his hands on the table and hung his head. He took a couple deep breaths. Losing his partner already seriously traumatized Tim and Carlton had no idea how to tell the man that the drink that killed his partner was intended for someone else.

Juliet jumped in with, "I'll get these two images of each of these guys to the Tech department so they can run them through their facial recognition software on Monday."

"I'll make a call to Mr. Hayden and see if he has time to look at the photos." Lassiter took out his cell phone to start dialing.

"Maybe Tim could join us so we can give him the update on how Doug died." Lassiter was just thinking that same thought when Spencer spoke up. He looked over the security photos once again and noticed the date stamps.

"Both incidents occurred on a Wednesday, a week apart. I hope Hayden can help us out with identifying these two guys."

Juliet made notes, and then stretched. "We have been at this for a couple hours. Anyone want to get lunch?"

"Gus said he wanted to meet me for lunch, so I can't join you guys, but if you hear anything later, let me know?" He looked at Lassiter, who was on his phone and then to Juliet.

"We'll call you if we hear anything." She responded to him before he turned to leave the room.

"Spencer!" Shawn turned to see Lassiter had pulled his phone from his ear. "Good work. Thank you."

"Anytime." He turned and left the room and headed down the hall with a smile on his face the whole time.

* * *

Shawn was in the middle of lunch and telling Gus about the case when he got a text from Lassiter.

"Hold on Gus, Lassie's texting me."

"Hayden meet us at station 8am Monday. Would like you to be there. H&Ks"

"I'll be there. Don't forget the muffins."

"What? You don't want another banana?"

"Funny. Muffins, Lassie."

"See you Monday."

"Shawn, how long does it take you to text Lassiter? The man hasn't texted you this much all year. Let's finish lunch."

"Sure thing, buddy. I just had to remind Lassie to bring muffins on Monday, he forgot them today and all I had for breakfast was a banana." Shawn watched his best friend's face get serious.

"Shawn, please tell me you did not eat that banana the way you did in front of Amy Geske. That was embarrassing.

"She didn't seem to mind. However, I did mind her braces after you left. Ouch!"

"Shawn. You know I don't like to hear your sleazy sex stories." Gus made a face that looked like he'd just smelled some bad cheese.

"Okay, man. Sorry. Speaking of which, how did your date go the other night? With Maxine?"

"It went well, we are going to see each other again sometime next week. Haven't seen you with anyone in awhile. Are you still working on Juliet?"

"Nah. She's cute and all, but definitely out of my league. I think she likes me like a brother or something like that." Shawn's mind wandered to the kiss he shared with Lassiter the night before and the fact that the detective had sort of held his hand at the station. "I think I'm just gonna lay low for awhile. Just chill."

"Whatever you say, Shawn."

The two friends finished lunch and left the restaurant.

They spent the weekend eating pizza and vendor food while watching Magnum PI and Shawn finally got to start watching his Deadwood DVDs. He caught himself thinking that Lassiter would look quite sexy if he grew out a moustache like either Tom Selleck or even that Brom Garrett dude.

* * *

Lassiter had spent his weekend catching up on his bills and yard work. His neighbors had started to complain to the HOA about his inability to keep his grass cut to a certain length. Since he hadn't had to pay Victoria for his grandmother's ring, he figured he could spring for someone to mow his lawn. He ended up hiring a college kid down the block that was looking to earn a few bucks to eventually move out of his parents' basement.

Sunday night he called to cancel going to drinks with O'Hara, but he promised to go out with her sometime soon for that drink. He had to stop by his mother's house instead and Lassiter was prepared to give his mother back the ring she had given him for his wedding.

"Booker, how did you let this happen? Not that I hadn't seen this coming, but I thought you, of all my children, would have been smart enough to be able to work things out with your spouse."

"She wasn't willing to see passed the past or to be forgiving. I did spend two years trying to fix things, you know?"

"I only found out you were separated last month. Althea figured something was up with you long before you told me, though."

"How is Althea? Are you really happy?"

"Yes, Booker. We are happy together. She ran out to get dinner when I told her you were coming over." She sat closer to her son and he wished she was more a maternal-type, but he took what she offered. "I just wish my eldest son could be happy. It would be nice to see you successful in your career and your personal life."

"Well, I'm still working on that."

"Aren't we all?" His mom looked out the window as a car pulled into the driveway beside Carlton's Fusion. "Althea's back. Go get washed up for dinner."

"Yes, mom."

Carlton returned from the restroom and found his mother and Althea in the kitchen setting the table. "Anything I can do to help you ladies?"

"Carlton! So nice to see you again. Glad you could come over for a visit. Your mom told me about you and Victoria. Such a shame, but it's her loss. I am perfectly optimistic that you'll find someone nice."

Carlton returned Althea's hug and took to helping the ladies set the table. It wasn't until dinner was served and the three of them had started eating that Carlton spoke up about why he'd come over.

"Mom, I wanted to drop off grandma's ring. Victoria finally conceded in giving it back, so I figured you'd want to give it to Lauren when she gets married." He placed the ring box on the table and pushed it to his mother.

"Booker." She opened the box and held it in her hand. "You know, your Grandma wore this until she passed, even after your grandfather was gone." She put it back inside the box and passed it back to Carlton.

"She wanted you to have it. Not Lauren or any of your brothers. You were her favorite, Carlton. You keep it. Maybe next time, your wife will appreciate it for what it is."

Althea spoke next when silence had taken over the dinner table. "I know you just signed the papers, but is there any prospects on the line yet? Romantically?"

Carlton shifted in his seat before settling his nerves to answer. "It's too soon to really go that way, Althea."

"Oh, but is seems like there is someone, isn't there? Maybe that you're just interested in?"

"'Thea... don't be nosy. Carlton's just ended his marriage, he doesn't have to jump into the next relationship so soon, right Booker?"

"Right, mom." He turned to his plate and started eating again, but the two ladies at the table kept staring at him. He felt like he was eighteen years old again and they had just found his stash of magazines under the bed.

"Oh my God, Booker. There is someone, isn't there?"

"No. Not really. I don't want to talk about him. Not now." Carlton realized he just let it slip that the person he was interested in was a guy and his ears started to burn. He took the ring off the table and placed it back into his suit jacket and got up from the table. He took his plate to the sink and was rinsing it off when Althea came up behind him.

"Carlton, we just want you to be happy. When you're ready, you just make sure to bring her, or him, over to visit sometime, okay?"

"Sure Althea. Let mom know I'll keep the ring safe and I'll call more often. Glad you're both well." He finished cleaning his dishes and left.

Carlton drove home with a thousand thoughts in his head. When he pulled into the driveway he was pleasantly surprised to see his lawn beautifully cut and the edges trimmed to his specifications. He looked around his street and mentally told his neighbors to "suck it".

* * *

Monday morning. He couldn't believe the weekend flew by so quickly. Carlton once again flew through his daily shower and shave before he got dressed and into his shoulder holster. He looked himself over in the closet mirror and his gaze stopped at the hickey that Shawn had left on him a couple of days ago. It was starting to fade already and he found himself wanting Shawn to do it again.

They hadn't made any plans to get together any time soon, The case might require some time undercover, depending on Nico Hayden's answers this morning, so Carlton had no idea when he'd have any free time.

He put on and tied his tie then grabbed his wallet, badge and keys as he headed out the door. He needed to be at the station a little before eight o'clock, but he needed to make one stop first.

There wasn't much of a line at the corner bakery, which surprised Carlton. He scanned the muffin flavors displayed. Over the years, he'd watched O'Hara devour anything with a chocolate-chip, so that was an obvious no-brainer. He realized that he didn't know what kind of muffin Spencer liked, but then something in the "specials" case caught his attention and he was ready to order. He had the lady at the counter, who wore a nose ring and super dark eyeliner, that he wanted a half-dozen muffins: two banana-nut, two chocolate-chip and one each from the other display case. He asked if she could put the last two into a separate bag, which caused her to roll her eyes since she'd have to put his other four muffins into a different container, but he added a larger-than normal tip into her jar for her trouble and her attitude improved.

He felt happy with himself as he entered the station. Both Spencer and O'Hara were already inside and they were discussing moustaches and facial hair, of all the weird conversation topics.

"I don't know, Jules. Lassie's always so clean-shaven. Maybe his face has forgotten how to grow hair." Spencer sat across Lassiter's desk and jumped when Carlton put a hand onto his back to push him off. "Whoa, there Lassie. You can't just creep up on a guy like that."

"I didn't creep." He placed the bag and the container of muffins on his desk as he removed his suit jacket and hung it up. "I brought muffins for the three of us. O'Hara, yours are the chocolate-chip."

"Thanks, Carlton. She took the two muffins and walked to her own desk, where Carlton knew she'd stash the second one for later. Shawn looked at the container that had the two banana-nut muffins.

"Those two are for you, aren't they?"

It was kind of cute to see Spencer flustered, but Carlton wasn't trying to be mean this morning. He grabbed the bag that held Spencer's muffins.

"These are yours. I wanted them to be a little bit of a surprise."

Shawn reached into the bag and pulled out the two totally different muffins.

"Okay, so I can tell that this one's pineapple, good choice. But this one..." Shawn smelled the muffin and a smirk grew on his face when he figured out the second.

"They make this flavor?" He started unwrapping the muffin in front of Carlton.

"I was as surprised to find it as you are now." Shawn bit into the muffin with his eyes closed.

"Not as good as the other night, but it tastes pretty good in any case. Do you want to try it?" Shawn held the muffin out to Carlton and offered the side that hadn't been bitten.

"Sure." Carlton took the muffin, turned it back around to the side that Shawn had had his mouth on and took a bite. He heard Shawn gasp before he returned the baked item. "Not bad. Doesn't have enough cinnamon for my tastes, but the cranberry adds a nice tartness."

"Yeah, I thought so, too. Needs more cinnamon." Shawn stared at his muffin and seemed to be in a trance for a couple of seconds before he walked to Juliet's desk.

Carlton never thought he would have such an affect on Shawn Spencer. It was a nice feeling to know he'd not only surprised the man, but had gotten him to also go speechless in the same morning. He celebrated by eating one of his own muffins.

All seriousness returned when Mr. Hayden showed up at the station. He hadn't brought Tim with him, so he told Spencer that he could go and do whatever he wanted to do for a while. He had wanted him around in case Tim arrived to help soften the news about Doug. He took Hayden into the conference room to look at the photos.

"I'm glad this time the pictures aren't showing them as dead. I get creeped out by that sort of thing, you know?"

"I know. It would help us out tremendously, if you could identify either of these men in the photos. If at all possible with first and last names?" Carlton figured it would be a long shot that Hayden would know so much detail about customers, if they weren't VIP customers.

Hayden looked at the photos and Carlton was pleased that the other man was taking his time. So many people would take the photo, glance at it and hand it back without really looking. Those people drove Carlton mad. So, Hayden's perusal was a nice change of pace.

After only a few more minutes, Hayden put the pictures down and pointed at them as he spoke. "I remember seeing this guy a couple of times. He always had a scowl on his face and since most people come to the club to have a nice time and relax, I remember his scowl. Never got a name, though. Sorry."

"And the other guy? Have you seen him before?" Carlton pushed the other picture closer.

"Yes. He is a regular; he's in a couple times a week. He was just in on Saturday. He isn't a VIP customer, so I'm trying to remember his name. It's Trey or Trevor... Travis? Shit. I'm so sorry to do this to you, Carlton. I really wish I could have been more of a help here." Nico hung his head and Carlton could see the man was exhausted.

"How's Tim? I was expecting to see him with you this morning."

"He's not good. He's down in San Diego with Doug's parents and sister helping with the funeral arrangements. It's been a long couple of days at the club without him. Which of these guys do you suspect in killing Doug?"

"Sorry, Hayden but I can't tell you at this time. Just be cautious at the club for the next few days. I am going to suggest to the Chief that we send in an undercover team to the Cathedral Station. Not for very long, I promise. We won't want to interrupt business."

"But if both of these guys come around, you're thinking of just having a few officers around when they show up, right?"

"Exactly. Nico, listen. We are only looking to question either of these guys. Do not try to be a hero with this. If you see then before we can get setup, I want you to call me and I'll be right there. Got it?"

"Yeah. Okay."

"I will call you after I meet with our chief and let you know what our plan is."

Both men stood up and walked out of the conference room door. Hayden's demeanor changed slightly once they were out of the room and he changed the subject.

"Did you hear the news about the marriage laws?"

"Hmm? Oh. No, I haven't kept up with any of that." Carlton looked around the bullpen and found it to be Spencer-free. Usually he would have liked that, but today he found he wanted Shawn to be around.

Hayden showed Carlton a ring on his finger. "Frank proposed this weekend. Looks like after fifteen years, he still wants to marry me."

"That's fantastic Nico. I am happy for the two of you." Carlton's hand was still gripped in a handshake when Spencer came around the corner. Hayden could feel the change in the tension of Carlton's hand and when he looked up he noticed Carlton's ears had turned a light shade of pink.

Carlton cleared his throat, ended the handshake, nervously adjusted his tie and put his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Lassie. Mr. Hayden. Nice to see you again." Shawn clapped his hands together and then placed his fingers to his temple. "I am sensing that you couldn't identify with any certainty either of those dudes in the pictures, but one of them is relatively well-known. Am I right?"

"Um, well, yes. How did you do that?"

"Lucky guess, right Spencer?" Lassiter really didn't want to play into the other man's psychicness.

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Hayden, I am the head psychic detective here at the SBPD. Lassie, here, just refuses to believe."

"I must say, Mr. Spencer, was it? That I too am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to psychics and the supernatural order."

Lassiter rolled his eyes as Spencer once again put his fingers to his head and inhaled sharply. "I am also getting that you have recently gotten some serious, but great news. Your left hand. Your left hand has a new accessory. You, sir, are going to be married in the near future."

"Okay. That's pretty good. Maybe you have swayed my cynic meter a little. I must apologize to both of you that I couldn't have been more help in identifying those guys, but like I said, Trevor or Travis comes in regularly."

"So does this mean you're gonna talk to the chief about a little undercover setup? Ooh! Can I go too? We could work this together."

Shawn reached up and adjusted Lassiter's tie, then dragged his hand down his chest. The look he had in his eyes when he looked up into Carlton's was full of want. Carlton felt like if he were food that Shawn would have eaten him right on the spot. Carlton felt a shiver go down his spine at the look.

"Spencer."

Nico cleared his throat. Both Shawn and Carlton looked over to the man they'd forgotten was standing next to them.

"Well, I've got to go. Let me know what your Chief decides. Nice to meet you, Shawn Spencer." Nico lightly tugged at Lassiter's elbow to have him follow.

"Carlton, man. You've got it bad for this guy, don't you?"

"What do you..." He started to deny what Hayden was saying, but the other man held his gaze. He felt like an idiot. "Maybe. I am not sure."

"I'm pretty sure that he's sure about you." Both Hayden and Lassiter looked back to Lassiter's desk where Spencer was sitting in his chair. The man was spinning in the chair while he threw pencils into the ceiling tile above his head.

"I think he just wants to drive me insane."

"Maybe. But you are the one he chose to drive insane."

"Don't I know it." Carlton exhaled a deep breath. "I'll call you as soon as Chief Vick gives me word."

He left Hayden to leave the station and walked to his desk.

"Spencer!"

"Yes, Lassiter?" Carlton hesitated at the man's use of his last name. He momentarily forgot what he was going to say.

"Come with me. We need to talk with the Chief."

"Yes! I will come with you anywhere." Shawn walked into Carlton's back because Carlton had suddenly stopped at Shawn's statement. "Um, well, anywhere in private, of course."

"Jesus, Spencer. You're trying to kill me aren't you? O'Hara, you joining us?"

"Of course."

The three of them, lead by the Head Detective, entered the chief's office ready to make the case for an undercover operation at the Cathedral Station. The goal would be to pickup either the intended victim or the unknown suspect, or maybe both men, before anyone else wound up hurt or dead.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 4-**


	5. Chapter 5 - Harder To Breathe (2)

**A/N:** Thought I'd add this since I had it finished. Have a nice weekend!

* * *

It was Tuesday afternoon before everything was prepared and approved. Carlton had been given the role of a security guard since he had once done the job and was aware of some of the policies of the Cathedral Station. Nico Hayden had introduced him to his head of security and they caught Carlton up about the new procedures and got him the correct credentials and access badge. As far as any of the other employees were aware, Carlton was just a new employee and would be treated as such.

O'Hara was the lead detective for the operation and was calling the shots from the surveillance van. The tech department had made easy work of getting the security camera feed to go directly to her and she was able to monitor the entire club. Carlton was proud to see his partner in charge of such an important detail.

She had chosen the team of officers that would go plain-clothes for the operation and take positions throughout the club. Everyone had been given photos of the two men they were there to try and locate. To pick up either man would make this a success, but Carlton really wanted to get his hands on the guy he'd seen poison the drinks that eventually killed Ted and Doug.

The only wild card of the entire setup was Shawn Spencer. Chief Vick wanted both he and Guster to be in the club every night to act as customers, mingle around the club and get a general feel for the patrons. She had hoped that the psychic would be able to get a vibe if anything seemed "off" about anyone. Ultimately, Guster had opted to merely just watch his friend's back. He stated in terms that Shawn could understand that he would only sit at the bar and watch. There would be no hand holding, no dancing and Shawn was not allowed to introduce him as anything but Burton Guster.

That night's coverage of the club felt very much like the first day of any training activity. O'Hara had troubles adjusting to the noise level of the music and the plain-clothes officers had to adjust their vantage points many times in order to make sure all the exits were covered. Not to mention that several of them had to work on their ways of declining offers of drinks or dancing.

Guster kept to himself like he promised, as he kept Shawn in sight at all times. Lassiter had troubles of his own revolving around Shawn. It seemed that no matter where Carlton moved, the other man eventually found his way to dance right in front of him. Sometimes he'd be with other guys, grinding around each other, but most often he would dance alone in full view of Lassiter.

It wasn't just Spencer's movements that started to affect him in ways he'd hoped to be able to look passed; it was how he was dressed. Spencer had taken it upon himself to wear a tightly fitted t-shirt and equally fitted jeans that left nearly nothing to the imagination, but accentuated his ass very well.

Once Tuesday night's briefing ended, Carlton had a very good idea that this operation was going to be one of the toughest things he'd have to get through with his dignity intact. At nearly every turn, Shawn was doing something erotic or lewd and he was never going to get those images out of his mind. Carlton and sleep didn't get along with other that night.

* * *

Carlton was relieved to be at the station in the morning. He was comfortable there and didn't have to have Spencer bouncing around every corner. The Chief made sure the Psych team stayed away from the station during the day and was only to make appearances at the club at night.

What Lassiter wasn't prepared for was the morning water cooler, or in this case coffee room, talk about the previous night. He didn't participate in any of the conversations, but just overhearing their statements started to make him fume.

"That Shawn Spencer couldn't have acted gayer unless he stood on a float in a parade."

Lassiter walked into the coffee room and poured his own coffee.

"At least you could be in the bar area, Lassiter's got the difficult job of patrolling the dance floor. What's it like watching someone you work with all the time flaming it up like that, Detective?"

"Don't you all have places to be? You three should know to watch how you talk around here. Someone could get the wrong idea and you'd all get written up."

"Come on, Maxwell. Let's go." The three uniforms left the bullpen, but Lassiter still heard their departing statement. "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, alone, again."

O'Hara had arrived and was settling into her desk as she watched her partner come out of the coffee room pissed off.

"What's wrong, Carlton?"

"Some of the guys on the undercover detail are asshats. I just had to break up a gossip-fest about Spencer in the coffee room." Lassiter sat in his chair and drank his coffee.

"I think Shawn did really well last night. He let me know where the dark corners were in the club so I could move guys to watch them. What could they have possibly had to gossip about?"

"They were talking about his dancing."

"He was quite good. Did you see him?"

How could he not see him? It seemed, to Lassiter, that Shawn was always in his sight line last night.

"Yeah, I saw him. He was pretty good."

"I do have one question, Carlton. At one point the DJ played the same song over and over, probably three times in a row. Now, I'm not saying I don't enjoy Katy Perry's songs, but listening to her Peacock song so many times was causing me to blush. Do you have any idea why the DJ did that?'

As a matter of fact, he did know.

"It's one of Ed's big things to do. Every night he plays that song twice in a row and turns on the stage lights. It's his signal for those clubbers that want to express themselves for the rest of the club to come up on stage and let themselves go. If no one's on stage by the third time the song plays, he ends the cycle and turns the light off. Last night there were no takers."

"Oh. So, he does this every night?" She took a deep breath and let it out. "Looks like I'm going to have to desensitize myself to that song. Who knows how long we're going to be there."

"Hopefully not long. Trevor or Travis has been known to come in a couple nights a week and he hasn't been there since Saturday. I bet we see him tonight."

"Well, let's write out our report for last night so we can get out of here a little early. I think I need a nap before we head out again tonight."

"I could use a nap as well. Let's get started on our paperwork, partner."

* * *

Lassiter did take a nap after O'Hara and he finished their report, but it wasn't restful. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Shawn in those tight jeans and that t-shirt that kept rising enough for him to see the man's tanned back or stomach, depending on how Shawn was facing. When his alarm sounded, he took a cold shower and got ready for the evening's shift at the club.

Unfortunately, Travis or Trevor didn't show to the club that night, or the night after that. Neither had the undercover team seen the other guy. Each night he was assaulted with images and feelings that he couldn't stop. He exercised every ounce of restraint he had to keep from reaching out and touching Spencer. Then every morning some officer or two would approach him and ask about Spencer's antics, some of them would make a derogatory statement about the man and he'd find himself defending Spencer or walking away, completely frustrated and pissed off.

By Friday morning, Carlton was on his last nerve and looked haggard. The lack of sleep, the extremely late nights at the club and the early morning shift at the station had started to wear on him. He was not in any mood to put up with anyone's shit.

Chief Vick called him into her office after she saw him flop into his chair when he arrived.

"Detective Lassiter. I've noticed how on edge you've been the last couple of days. Is everything all right?"

"Yes Chief. I'm fine. The late nights have been rough, but I can handle it. Nothing to worry about."

"And you're sure it's just the late nights?"

"Yes, Chief. Once I get coffee, O'Hara and I will finish up our daily report."

"Okay, detective. By the way, I told O'Hara that if we don't see anything of either man tonight, we're shutting down the operation. We just can't continue this indefinitely. We'll just have to figure a way to find them another way."

"Understood." She dismissed him from her office and he went to grab his coffee. When he entered the break room, a small group of officers was already there and they seemed to be trying to keep their conversation to themselves, as they were whispering.

They caught Lassiter's attention, though when he heard his name mentioned, so he listened in more intently as he waited for his coffee to cool down.

"I can't believe how Lassiter stands up for Spencer and all the gayness that he's showing off."

"If Spencer did half those things to me, I'd lay him out so fast."

"You know that's right. There's a reason it's called 'don't ask, don't tell'. Keep it to yourself or you open yourself up for a beating."

"Is that right?" Lassiter's voice was loud and he meant it to be. "So, you're saying that anyone you find out that's gay that you'd beat them up for it? Is that what I understood you to say, Maxwell? How about you Fielding? You feel the same way?"

"No, sir. I was just playing around. I wouldn't start anything like that." Fielding apologized for what he said and left Officer Maxwell alone with Lassiter.

"Maxwell, you've been pretty vocal this entire time about how you feel about gays. What makes them deserving of an ass kicking in your mind? Hmm?"

"Well, it's how they all prance around and flaunt themselves everywhere to everyone. You've seen Spencer and what he and his friends are doing at the club. I haven't seen a gay guy yet that could stand up for himself in a fight."

"Really? Gay guys can't fight, now?" Lassiter put down his coffee cup and laid a right cross to Maxwell's face. He followed it up with a left hook under his jaw and punch to the man's chest. Maxwell recovered from the surprise attack and before Lassiter could land another blow, Maxwell swept Lassiter's legs from underneath and the detective fell on his ass.

He was now on the floor in the doorway to the break room. Maxwell bent over him and grabbed his suit jacket lapels to try and pick him up, but Lassiter grabbed his arms and, instead, rolled the officer into the door. He dragged Maxwell to his feet and landed one more punch to the man's ribs before Chief Vick's voice rang out.

"Officer Maxwell. Detective Lassiter. Stop this instant!"

Lassiter let go of the other man and instantly followed the Chief's order. His arms dropped to his sides. Maxwell however didn't comply so quickly and punched Carlton across his jaw and ended up splitting his lip.

Officer McNab grabbed Officer Maxwell and rushed him into the Chief's office.

O'Hara went to her partner's side and moved him to a chair next to her desk.

"Carlton, what the hell happened? The Chief could pull you from this case because of this."

"I know. I wasn't thinking. He just wouldn't stop mouthing off and I snapped. You need to pull Maxwell from the undercover detail, if Chief Vick doesn't do that herself."

"Why? Besides the fact that the two of you aren't getting along..."

"He doesn't like being at the club. His sentiments against homosexuals are... unsavory at best."

O'Hara finished up cleaning off Carlton's bleeding lip when she came out and demanded that Lassiter join her.

Officer Maxwell was standing at attention in the corner guarded by McNab when he entered. When Lassiter looked his direction, Maxwell flinched. Carlton felt an internal smirk when he saw the shadow of a bruise on the man's jaw and the hitch in the man's breathing that indicated he could have a couple bruised ribs. This was not a time for smugness, however. He needed to make sure Vick didn't pull him from the investigation and so he'd meet any and all of her requests.

Carlton stood tall and braced for his reprimand.

"Detective Lassiter. You and Officer Maxwell have been observed fighting in my station just now. I have heard Maxwell's side of the story that he unknowingly pissed you off about some sort of sports team?" Lassiter raised his eyebrow in surprise, but made no effort to correct her. "Now, I know you've been under a lot of pressure this week and I realize that tensions are running high at the moment for all of us. Detective, I want you to go home. Get some rest. Maxwell, you are also to go home for the rest of the day. I will be discussing this incident with Detective O'Hara and we'll both decide what to regarding the undercover operation this evening. Until you hear from me or O'Hara, consider yourselves dismissed for the day, gentlemen."

Lassiter turned to leave first. He was livid that he didn't get to tell what really happened with Maxwell shooting off his mouth, but he was thankful that he hadn't been suspended or kicked off the case. He went to his desk, grabbed his briefcase and left the station.

He was in his car when he got O'Hara's text message. "Get some rest partner. Talk to you later."

He didn't reply and drove himself home.

* * *

Hours later, Carlton was still angry over what he had let happen in the station when he got a message from Juliet.

"Done with meeting with the Chief. On my way to your place. We need to talk."

This time he did reply.

"OK. See you in a few."

He selected Shawn's phone number from his contact list and waited for him to pickup. On the third ring he was greeted by a voice he had wanted to hear from for days and the muscles in his shoulders instantly relaxed somewhat.

"Hey, Spencer. Shawn. I need to talk to you. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah. I was just starting to get something to eat before getting ready for tonight. What's up?"

"Something happened at the station. I ended up getting into a fight with Officer Maxwell. The Chief sent me home for the rest of the day."

"Really? You got into a fight and I wasn't there to see it?"

"I'm glad you weren't there. It might have gone worse."

"What did he say or do that pissed you off so much? I mean I push your buttons all the time and you've never punched me. I've gotten you to push me around, throw me into a few walls and such. Oh! And there was that rumble in that hotel kitchen, remember?"

"Yes. I remember. I can tell you details later. What I wanted to tell you is that O'Hara is on her way here to let me know if the Chief is letting me stay on the case or not. And, well, O'Hara's bound to ask about what happened. I want to tell her about you... and me."

"Oh. Well, okay. There isn't much to tell her I guess, but if you think you have to, I'm okay with it."

"I might not have to say anything, but if the question is asked, I don't want to lie. It was my feelings about you that got me into the fight in the first place."

"Aw, did Lassie come to my defense in my absence?" Shawn faked a southern drawl and Lassiter rolled his eyes.

"Something like that. I wanted to let you know first before I said anything. If you want, I'm okay with you letting Guster know."

Lassiter's doorbell rang and he saw O'Hara's car in the driveway.

"I've got to go, Spencer. Shawn. I'll text you later."

"Okay. Carlton." It made Lassiter smile to hear how hard it was for Shawn to say his name.

"Bye."

Carlton answered his door and O'Hara pushed her way in. She was angry, so he just let her stew until she gathered her thoughts to talk to him.

"Carlton, what in the hell was that at the station? The Chief says you and Maxwell fought over a sports team? I know you. And you do not follow sports, let alone get so wrapped up in it to start a fight. I'm your partner and I deserve to know what really happened."

Lassiter could tell she had worked up all her tough cop energy into that rant and smiled at her while getting her to sit down.

"O'Hara. You're right. You deserve to know what really happened." He sat down on his coffee table in front of her. "The fight with Maxwell wasn't about sports. That's the story he gave to Vick. I didn't want to be kicked of the case and so I went with it. She seemed more inclined to view this as a minor stupid infraction than what my accusation would roll out. I was too tired to deal with all of that."

"All of what? Please, tell me Carlton." She looked as if she was going to cry and he didn't want that to start.

"Maxwell and his little group of gossipy friends have been poking fun at Spencer and the guys at the nightclub and the fact that we're working a gay nightclub. They've been doing this the whole time, and I just snapped."

"But what could have gotten you so pissed that you punched the guy? I mean it Carlton, Maxwell's really bad off. I think I heard Fielding say that he was taking him to the urgent care."

"He made it clear that if Spencer or any other gay guy came near him that he'd beat them up. He also said that gays made it easy because they couldn't fight and defend themselves. I wanted to make a point."

"Wait. Shawn's gay? I thought he was just playing around at the club the last few nights. How do you know this?

"Maxwell assumed that because of the way Spencer was dancing and the way he was dressed that he was gay. He pretty much jumped to a conclusion."

"But you said you wanted to make a point. How would you beating the crap out of Maxwell make the point that gay guys could fight?"

O'Hara looked him right in the eyes and she found her answer. He gave her a tight-lipped smile, tapped her on the shoulder and stood up. He walked passed her and into the kitchen to get a glass of water. It only took her a moment to put some of the pieces together.

She stood up and followed him into the kitchen.

"So, you're... You are telling me that you're... and Shawn is... I don't understand. Shawn's dated women, he's brought them into the station. You were married. How can both of you be...?"

"I don't know what you want to hear right now. I can only offer you the truth. I had, on occasion, been on dates with guys before I was married. I've had moments between my wedding and that astronaut case a while back when I've noticed men and found them attractive. I've also dated a few women during my separation."

"So you've been, what? Bisexual all this time? Carlton, I apologize."

"For what?" It was his turn to be confused.

"All those times that I tried to set you up with my girlfriends or gave your number to someone in a different department because I thought you'd like her. I'm sorry that I hadn't asked. I just assumed."

"So did Maxwell and look where that landed him."

"In the Urgent Care clinic." She laughed and he joined her.

"So, you just laid into Maxwell because you wanted to make a point. Do you think he figured out that you are gay, or bi, from this incident?"

"I don't know. For all I know he thinks I was just sticking up for Spencer. What I do know is that he knew better than to tell the Chief why I really hit him. He could be brought up on real charges if it got out that he was saying such offensive things."

"Yeah. That's another thing. Why would you stick up for Shawn? Lately you've been different around him. You bought him muffins and you even praised him for doing a good job... Oh. My. God. You, Carlton Lassiter, are crushing on Shawn, aren't you?"

"O'Hara. It's not like that. Not really. I mean we've only kissed twice. We haven't even gone out on a real date."

"But you want to, don't you?"

"Maybe. I don't know what we have going on yet. We weren't even going to say anything about this, but I told him that you were on your way here and it might come out because of the circumstances behind the fight. You know, you haven't told me if I've been reassigned off the case or not." Lassiter totally wanted to change the subject and he wanted to find out where he stood.

"You're still on the case and the undercover operation. She kept to her deadline of tonight if we don't see either man at the club. Maxwell has been pulled of the detail."

"Not just because of your scuffle, but there were a couple anonymous complaints about his attitude and behavior at the club the last couple nights."

"Good. There's at least that." Carlton looked at his partner. She was the closest thing he had to a friend and she now knew something deeply personal about him and he needed to know if she was okay with all of this.

"O'Hara. Are we okay? This doesn't change things between us, does it?"

"Of course not. Well, maybe one thing. You are no longer going to be able to convince me that you are unfeeling or that you are a robot. I know better now."

"Great. Just don't spread that around. I do have a reputation to uphold."

"And I know you'll fight to protect it."

"You know it."

"Well, I will see you tonight, partner. You know, that split lip makes you look pretty good... Shawn will probably think it's sexy."

"O'Hara."

"Just saying. Bye."

O'Hara left and Carlton felt better than he had since this case started. He went into his bedroom and laid down. He had about an hour before he had to start getting ready and felt like he could take that nap, but first he needed to let Spencer know what happened.

He texted Shawn. "I told O'Hara. She's okay. Hope you're okay with it. See you tonight?"

He only had to wait a few minutes before he got a reply.

"I'm okay. I told Gus. He's scared that if I screw up you'll hunt both of us down."

"Really? Tell him he's in the clear. I'd hold no ill will toward him if you broke my heart."

"Lassie, would you hunt me down?"

"Maybe. Let's get thru this case so we can go on a real date, ok?"

"OK."

"I'm taking a nap. See you later."

"Later."

Lassiter put his phone on his nightstand and set his alarm; he didn't want to oversleep.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 5-**


	6. Chapter 6 - Peacock

**A/N:** Okay, This is not a Maroon 5 song, but I wanted a fun little, number for the guys to dance to and this was Perfect! Hope you read and enjoy. Read and Review if you can, let me know what you're thinking so far. :)

**Disclaimer:** The lyrics to the song belong to Katy perry, not me and I do not own the TV Show or the characters from Psych. Boy, if I did, though! Timothy Omundson is one HOT S-O-B.

* * *

(Shawn's POV)

Shawn hadn't exactly lied to Lassiter when he said he was about to get ready for the evening's nightclub watch, but he wasn't entirely honest either. He had been thinking through a theory he had the last couple of nights and he was trying to piece together an important piece that he just couldn't wrap his mind around. He sat on his bed with his eyes closed as images from the video footage played behind his eyelids. Both he and Lassiter had watched the same scene play out in the footage night after night.

The DJ turned on the stage lights and would play a song. They couldn't hear the song at the time, as the footage didn't record sound. Since they had actually been at the club three nights, Shawn knew that the DJ's most recently selected song for this was Katy Perry's "Peacock". The tune was catchy, but the lyrics were totally "not-suitable-for-the-workplace" and Shawn couldn't help himself to sing it in the shower as he imagined singing it to Carlton. Back to the images he tried to concentrate on something his mind had seen, but he hadn't processed through.

He had no idea how long he'd sat cross-legged on his bed, but Shawn finally figured out what had been niggling at the back of his mind the last three nights. He knew what he had to do tonight. If only he knew if the killer would decide to show up at the nightclub. He really wanted to help Lassie catch the bad guy.

His knees creaked as he unfolded himself and stretched his legs. He sent a text to Carlton before he headed to the shower.

"Ask Nico if security guys are allowed to dance. Please. Have a theory."

He showered while he waited for Carlton to ask and send a reply. He did end up singing that damned song once again; he couldn't help it, it is stupidly erotic. Lassiter's reply didn't come until Shawn was fully dressed and ready to go.

"We are. Please don't be planning anything embarrassing."

"Trust in me, Lassie."

Shawn just imagined what Carlton's face looked like when he read the message.

He called Juliet to let her know his plan.

"Carlton can't know the details, or his reaction won't be 'real', Jules. But when things start moving, please be the voice of reason and just reassure him that this will be for the case."

Juliet had heard Shawn's theory and his reasoning behind it. It sounded logical to her and she knew that if Lassiter were the one in the van, he would have made the same decision.

"It's better for all concerned if members of the SBPD were put in harm's way than the civilians in the club. It's a good idea, Shawn. I will back you up. Good Luck."

He went through the normal sound check of his wire and walked into the club. He heard her talking to Carlton through the earpiece.

"Shawn has a good idea, Carlton. Just follow his lead."

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this idea?"

"Just trust us."

"You're lucky I do."

A tall blonde guy asked Shawn to the dance floor immediately as he entered the club. He was pleasantly flattered by the attention, but wished he could have had a talk with Lassiter first.

"That didn't take long, Spencer." Lassiter's protective growl vibrated in his ear and sent warm feelings as far south as his dick.

Juliet had paired Gus with McNab this evening to watch Shawn and Lassiter's back. Shawn's plan seemed sound, but it would distract Lassiter and she still needed eyes on the floor. Buzz and Gus had to dance together and Gus wasn't happy about it, but he obeyed the detective's order. Shawn could see them in his peripheral vision and it made him grin like an idiot.

Once the tall blonde became bored with just dancing; it was obvious Shawn wasn't going to give him any more than that, Shawn got closer to Lassiter. He made eye contact with his favorite detective and swept his eyes from the other man's shoes to his face and back down again and winked before turning around to continue dancing.

It was just before one o'clock when Shawn took another break from the crazy dance floor and got a drink, followed by water. When he returned, the DJ started the song and turned on the stage light. It was now or never, and if he was to keep the patrons of the club safe, it was now.

Shawn used the two intro verses to move to Carlton's location against the wall. He took his hand and led him out to the dance floor. Carlton seemed to be mortified, but followed Shawn's lead.

"I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock

Your peacock, cock

Your peacock, cock, cock

Your peacock"

"I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock

Your peacock, cock

Your peacock, cock, cock

Your peacock"

When the first real verse with words started, the tips of Carlton's ears went red. Shawn grabbed onto his waist and started to grind his body against the detective's stiff form. It was going to take time to break through this icy moment without Juliet's help.

"Word on the street

You got something to show me,

Magical, colorful, Mr. Mystery,

I'm intrigued for a peek

Heard it's fascinating"

Shawn held onto Carlton's waist and curled his fingers into his belt loops for stability while he slid his body down the front of Lassiter's pants and back up.

"Words up your sleeve, such a tease

Wanna see the show in 3D

A movie, heard it's beautiful

Be the judge and my girls gonna take a vote"

"Carlton, just relax and go with this. I have the dance floor covered; we have got your back. Come on, partner. Ease up. Don't break your cover. Remember, you're not a cop right now. You are a hot, sexually flexible security guard that's just been chosen for a dance by an equally sexy male."

Shawn's face blushed as he listened to what the other detective was telling her partner. He kneeled down again, this time he ran his hands up Carlton's pant legs as far as he could go. As rose back up to his full height, he made eye contact with his dance partner and he noticed a shift in his stance.

Carlton opened his legs, grabbed Shawn by the waist and pulled their bodies close together. He started moving against Shawn's body while his hands explored the body in front of him.

"That's it, Carlton. Trust me."

"Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?

Don't be a chicken boy, stop acting like a bi-atch

I'm-a peace out if you don't give me the pay off

Come on, baby, let me see what you're hiding underneath"

It seemed to Shawn that Carlton was taking the lyrics as a challenge. He was no longer stiffly dancing with him and even slid himself down Shawn's body with the next verse.

"Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?

What you're waiting for, it's time for you to show it off

Don't be a shy kinda guy I'll bet it's beautiful

Come on, baby, let me see what you're hiding underneath"

Shawn felt like his body might just go boneless from the actions Carlton was taking in this dance. Their hands took turns over each other's body and they switched who led who for longer than Shawn had realized.

He came back to reality in time for the next to last chorus line when he knew he needed to move them to the stage. He didn't want to take the chance that anyone else would hop on the stage and become the target. He pulled Lassiter up by the chin and whispered into his ear.

"Follow me. We have to do this." He grabbed Lassiter's hand and ran with him up to the stage's stairs. Lassiter hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and followed Shawn up the steps.

They were on the stage and Shawn was shocked that Carlton grabbed him by the waist and took control of the situation. He was now in the lead.

"Oh, my god, no exaggeration

Boy, all this time was worth the waiting

I just shed a tear, I'm so unprepared"

Cheers from the dance floor erupted as Carlton moved Shawn between his legs and, as he steadied him with his left hand at his waist he did a slow body wave with his whole body. The entire time, they never lost contact below their belts.

"You've got the finest architecture

End of the rainbow looking treasure

Such a sight to see and it's all for me"

Shawn had no idea that Carlton could move as well as he was. He was too aware of the fact that they were both hard at the moment and the friction caused by their movements felt fantastic. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensations.

When the DJ played the song for the second time, they were both so wrapped up in each other that Shawn was glad Juliet had thought ahead to have Gus and Buzz as back up.

Carlton shifted his stance, placed his hand on his shoulder and pushed him down to crotch level. Shawn was mesmerized by the pelvic thrusts sent his way before Carlton cupped his chin and led him back up. He spun Shawn around so that was no longer face-to-face with the detective and was thoroughly surprised with the continued grinding coming from his dance partner.

Near the end of the song, Carlton knelt down and slid his hands down Shawn's whole body, one hand even reached around the front before joining its pair on his legs. Carlton rose up and let his hands travel back they way they came and turned Shawn back around to face him.

The song ended, the stage light went out and they were both panting and sweating from their exertions. They barely processed the catcalls, whistles and shouts over their own heartbeats. They did notice, however, when a curtain closed and they were isolated from the viewing eyes of the dancers below.

"Let's give these two a moment, shall we?"

Shawn and Carlton pounced on each other when the DJ switched songs. Their lips crashed onto each other, both of them fighting for dominance over the other. Their hands were groping every inch they could find. Finally, the two of them came back to reality when they heard Juliet's voice on their headsets.

"Are you two okay? We don't have eyes on you. Carlton? Shawn? Come on guys. Let me know you're still there."

Shawn heard her voice started to shake with worry.

"We're here, O'Hara. Just coming down the stage steps now." Thank goodness Carlton could speak. Shawn still couldn't find his voice by the time they made it down the steps and back down to the dance floor.

The club dancers greeted them with high-fives and shouts as they moved through the crowd.

"We got one! Someone spotted they guy who was the intended target. I repeat we have one in custody."

Shawn looked at Lassiter and saw the detective switch to cop-mode instantly. He continued to walk to the bar; he needed a drink and possibly a cigarette after the last few minutes.

Shawn went and stood in a corner by himself for a few moments to calm down. He then made his way to Gus and Buzz. The three of them danced together until Juliet called it quits for the operation.

"Everyone meet at the van on the corner."

Shawn and Gus let the cops head out first. They stopped at the bar where Mr. Hayden worked this evening.

"Looks like we're out, Mr. Hayden. Thank you for the great times."

"You too, Mr. Spencer. I have never seen Carlton move like that. Ever. Hope you can come back and visit some time."

Shawn shook the man's hand. "I think I will. It's a nice place."

They headed out to meet with everyone else at the van, but noticed that Lassiter wasn't amongst the rest.

"Hey, Jules. Where's Lassie? Shouldn't he be here, too?"

"He has his security detail to finish up and check out. His cover was also a job. Just because we're done, doesn't mean he is. The chief and I will debrief him in the morning."

From somewhere in the group Shawn heard "I don't know, looked like Spencer almost debriefed our detective already." There was a small round of laughter that was stopped when Juliet started speaking.

"Good work everyone. Now, let's get to the station. Everyone needs to check in his or her equipment before going home. You all have reports to turn in by tomorrow afternoon."

Shawn and Gus removed their headsets and handed them back to Juliet.

"You two can just head home. Come on in tomorrow morning to write up your statements."

"Thanks, Jules. See you in the morning."

Gus drove his friend home in almost silence. He only spoke when he pulled up to Shawn's apartment.

"Look, I know you like Lassiter. It was really obvious tonight that he likes you back. I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't at least tell you to be careful."

"Lassie wouldn't..."

"Not from Lassiter. We both know he wouldn't hurt you, intentionally. Unless you approach in a threatening manner, or threatened to throw out one of his guns."

"Funny, Gus. But I think..."

"Let me just finish, please. You tend to find yourself in trouble and trouble seems to follow Lassiter around. I just don't want you have any of his trouble land on you."

"That just didn't make any sense. But, trust me Gus, nothing will happen to me any more than it usually does if I get involved with Carlton. In fact, my incidence rate of getting into trouble may actually go down if I get involved with him. He's very protective, you know?"

"I know. See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Let's grab waffles before we go to the station."

"I could eat some waffles. See you later, Shawn."

"Later, buddy."

* * *

It was after four in the morning when Shawn got a text from Carlton.

"Are you still awake?"

He hadn't gotten to sleep yet, so he replied back.

"Yep. Are you OK?"

"Yes. Tired. Finally finished at the club."

"See you tomorrow? Jules asked me to write my statement."

"I won't be in until 10. Need sleep."

"Good Night Lassie."

"Spencer."

"Good Night, Carlton."

"Good Night Shawn."

* * *

He stood outside the Cathedral Station and saw the large group of what he figured to be police gathered around a van down the street. He grinned when he realized his gut feeling had been right all along.

The last couple of nights, he had sat just outside the bar area careful to not make eye contact with anyone who came near him. He watched and waited. Figured these guys can't help themselves but make a scene at a club. Some nights, like the last three, he left the club empty-handed.

But it was just a matter of time. He was rewarded tonight with the scene that the couple made on stage tonight. Usually one half of the pair was reluctant or was just going for the ride. But, these two were different in his mind. They both wanted each other equally; there was give and take. There was a spark between the two men tonight that prompted him to not make a move tonight. And now that he saw the police, he was glad he waited. It must have been fate.

He was patient. He could wait. It was obvious the two men were involved with the police somehow and he wanted to know specifics before he made his move. These two were worthy of his time and energy. Now that he had found the perfect couple, he had no need to continue to visit the bars. No, now he would use his time for them. He had to know all about them.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 6-**


	7. Chapter 7 - Call Me Maybe

**Disclaimer:** Same thing as before; I own nothing but the thoughts that appeared in my head.

**A/N:** Thanks to all who are following this story and have waited for an update.

**Warnings:** There are some derogatory statements made, these are not my opinions, but those of the asshat characters in the story and they get what they deserve at the end.

* * *

"Shawn... um, yes. Don't stop. Oh, God, Shawn."

Carlton's eyes snapped open as he came. His body jerked awake and once he had a moment to catch his breath, he wiped himself off with his sheet.

"Jesus." Carlton ran a hand through his hair as he sat up.

He needed a run, to let loose some of the pent up energy from the last couple days. Since he had woken up earlier than the alarm he'd set, he quickly brushed his teeth and dressed in his workout gear. He started his coffee pot so it would be ready when he returned and laced up his running shoes.

He loved his morning runs. It was one of the few times during the day that he could clear his mind. As his feet repeatedly hit asphalt, his thoughts gravitated to Shawn. Shawn *freaking* Spencer. The way their bodies had fit together and moved together so easily last night blew his mind. The heat from the other man's body and the energy that he had felt between them had him thinking erotic thoughts all the rest of the night.

He had gone home after his shift ended at the club and texted Shawn before he lay down and jerked off to the images and feelings that he had been left with. Carlton still couldn't remember a time in his adult life that he'd been so horny. The only thing he could compare it to would be his senior year in high school. The difference being that now he may have a chance to actually make it past third base with Shawn if he continued down the path he was taking.

The dance at the club hadn't taken him completely by surprise. The text Shawn had sent earlier in the day alluded that he had something planned. He had been more anxious waiting to find out what Shawn would want him to do. Thankfully, O'Hara had been there to talk him out of his head enough for him to jump onto Shawn's idea.

His partner explained Shawn's plan and the other man's actions to him over his wire once the undercover detail had cleared the club. Once he knew why Spencer wanted to create the scene they made, he felt a little less embarrassed by his own actions. He was still shocked he had behaved in public like that, but the knowledge that it was, in part, to help the case, made it better. Almost.

As he continued his run, the song he'd danced to with Spencer rattled in his brain. It had a catchy rhythm, and by the time he returned to his house, he was fully humming the song.

After he showered, shaved and had poured his coffee, he knew what he wanted to do. So, he took out his phone and typed in a text to Shawn.

"Headed to the station. See you there?"

Lassiter grabbed his coffee and headed out. It wasn't until he was halfway to the station that his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"On my way. See you soon. H & Ks"

He read it as he waited for the light to change, and he smiled. It was nice to know that someone wanted him, wanted to see him. Carlton hadn't had that in a very long time.

* * *

His light hearted, almost dizzying, thoughts screeched to a halt as he entered the station and saw small groups of officers talking amongst themselves in the bullpen. Lassiter kept his determined walk, but fixed a scowl on his face as he noted their whispered conversations and the way they all glanced in his direction. He felt their eyes on him as he walked to the chief's office and knocked.

"Come in detective."

Lassiter walked in, stood in front of Vick's desk and waited. He figured she'd have plenty to say to him.

"Lassiter, I realize you have been under a lot of stress lately. The hours of overtime, the undercover assignment..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at him. "The finalization of your divorce."

"How did you...?" He felt his eyebrows knit together as he met her eyes and noticed she held papers in her hand.

"These came through the fax machine this morning. I wasn't prying, but figured out what they were when I looked to see who they were for." She handed him the papers and waited, as he looked them over.

As he'd hoped, the judge had taken their extended separation into consideration and had signed the papers to finally end his marriage to Victoria Parker.

The Chief continued. "Even with all of those stressors, I cannot allow my Head Detective to walk around like a loose cannon. I need your head back in the game, detective. And I want assurances that there will not be a repeat of yesterday's incident with Officer Marshall."

"Of course, Chief. I recognize I was in the wrong. Even though his attitude did need to be adjusted."

"Because he had a different allegiance to a different team? Detective?"

"It won't happen again."

"If it does, you will be formally reprimanded and it will be added to your personnel file. Understood?"

"Yes, Chief."

"In regards to last night's developments, Mr. Trevor Perkins was escorted home by Officer McNab and he will be brought back later today for his statement. Hopefully, he can shed some more light on the identity of our murder suspect."

"I just wish we could have gotten that scumbag last night."

"That would have been best, but at the very least no one else was drugged and we have our intended victim."

"Yes, Chief." He really had nothing else to say to her and he saw through her window that Spencer had arrived. Some of the officers in the bullpen had already met up with him and it seemed that he was already talking to them about last night. Lassiter wanted to get out there before too much was said.

"Now, get back to work. I want your report from last night on my desk before you leave this evening."

Lassiter turned to leave the chief's office.

"By the way, I watched the footage from last night's detail. Nice moves detective."

He felt his ears heat up. "Thanks Chief."

He walked out of the Chief's office and closed the door behind himself. Lassiter walked straight towards Spencer and the group of officers that had surrounded him.

"I don't know, guys. I mean it was all innocent and harmless, for the case. There wasn't anything too crazy. Dobson, are you saying you couldn't move like that? Come on, son. I've seen you in the copy room with your iPod."

"Maybe, Shawn. Maybe. But you really had Detective Lassiter in the spotlight, literally."

"Again, for the case, guys."

Spencer saw Lassiter walking towards him, made eye contact with the detective and left the group to meet up in the middle of the hall.

"So, Lassie. Those guys are still talking about last night. Crazy, right?"

"Yes. Crazy." Lassiter continued walking down the hall and Spencer followed him.

"I didn't say anything to compromise you in any way."

Once Lassiter reached the file room, he stopped and turned to look at the other man.

"Thank you, Spencer. Shawn. They saw what they saw last night. There really isn't anything else to say, right?" He turned and went into the small room, but didn't close the door, so Shawn followed him in.

"So, the chief wants my statement about last night, right? Gus' too?"

"Yes, she does. I'm getting you the forms from in here to fill out. Shawn?"

"Yes, Lassie?"

"Close the door." Lassiter thought he heard Shawn swallow loudly before he closed the door.

"Did I do something wr-"

Shawn's words got caught in his throat and remained unsaid as Lassiter's lips closed around his own.

When Shawn pulled away, he looked up into Lassiter's eyes. "What was that for?"

"I can't help it. You have got me thinking and doing things that I know that I shouldn't." As he said this, his hands were ran down Shawn's back, and Shawn's hands rested at Lassiter's hips. His thumbs came to rest inside the loops of the holster's leather tie-downs.

"So, you're saying I'm irresistible?" Shawn wiggled his hips and his eyebrows at the same time.

"Not irresistible, but definitely tempting in all the wrong ways. Would you, I mean, would it be okay if we?" Lassiter cleared his throat. He suddenly felt nervous. "I'd like to have dinner with you tonight. Eight O'clock?"

Shawn chuckled a little and Lassiter opened his eyes, He hadn't realized he closed them when he asked his question. He also resumed breathing.

"Were you bracing yourself in case of bad news, Lassie? It was kind of cute."

"Spencer. Just answer the question, please."

"Oh. Um, I think I can. I have to ask Gus, though. He's the one that remembers what's on our calendar and what-not."

"Okay. Sure." Lassiter reached back behind himself and grabbed the statement forms for Shawn and Gus. "You'll need to fill these out and each of you need to write your own version of the events from last night."

"Everything?" Shawn's eyebrow waggled again and he had mischief in his eyes.

"Everything that pertains to the case, Spencer. It's not supposed to read like an erotic fiction story. I can't tell you what to leave out, but use your own discretion. The chief's watched the footage and O'Hara already overheard most of what happened. Everyone else on the detail will be describing what we were doing, if we leave it out or change things it would look suspicious, like we're hiding something."

"And we're not?"

"Not much."

"Got it.

Lassiter opened the door and they both walked out of the file room as Detective O'Hara walked by them on her way to her desk.

"Carlton. Shawn. Glad you're here. Buzz has Trevor Perkins in Interrogation Room A so we can get his statement. The chief thought it best for me to talk to him first, if you two could be in the observation room?"

"Sure, O'Hara. Shaw- Spencer, why don't you go and see if Guster is here, or on his way and I'll meet you downstairs."

"Okay Lassy-face. See you two in a bit."

O'Hara walked with Lassiter down the steps, but stopped before they went into the interrogation rooms.

"Everything okay between you two? Nothing weird from last night?"

"No. Why? Did we look like there was something weird?"

"Something's off. Oh my God!" O'Hara's hands grabbed Lassiter's lapels and she pushed him into the observation room. "You two were kissing in the file room, weren't you?"

Lassiter looked away from her and went into full defensive mode.

"What? O'Hara, that's, that's just ridiculous. I, we, I wouldn't do that at the station. Come on." As he lied, he felt the tips of ears burn for the second time since he'd gotten to work. "Aw, hell, O'Hara. Yes. Okay. Yes."

O'Hara punched him in the chest, hard. "That's for trying to lie to my face, Carlton."

"Ow. O'Hara, Jesus. I'll try to remember to not do that again."

"Thank you. I am a detective, Detective." She then launched herself at Lassiter at squeezed him into a hug. "I'm glad you're finally trying to be happy."

"Whoa, now detectives. Should I leave the two of you alone for a minute or two, or what?"

"Spencer." Lassiter growled and O'Hara let him go.

"It was just a hug between partners, Shawn. He's all yours."

Thank God Shawn blushed at her comments too, as she left them in the room to go and talk to Trevor Perkins.

"What was that about?"

"She's happy."

"Why are you rubbing your chest?"

"She punched me. Hard."

"Why?"

"I tried to lie to her when she asked if we were kissing in the file room. I don't even know how she could have figured that out."

"Probably my fault."

"How would it be your fault?"

Lassiter felt truly confused. He figured his partner had seen them leave the file room together and, after the conversation yesterday afternoon, drew her own conclusion. What could Spencer have done to cause blame in the situation?"

"I think I bit down on your lip a bit too hard when we were in the file room. Your lip is bleeding."

"Really? Crap." Lassiter pulled out his pocket-handkerchief and swiped at his lip. Sure enough, it came away with a nice line of blood. "Damn it."

"Sorry."

"No worries, Shawn. I hadn't even felt that. But O'Hara's punch will probably leave a bruise."

"Gus is on his way. He had a stop to make for his real job after we had breakfast."

* * *

The two men finally turned to watch Trevor Perkins talk with Detective O'Hara.

"Mr. Perkins. Thank you for putting up with our police detail last night and for coming in this morning."

"No problem. Your Officer McNab said that it was in my best interest and I have a strict policy to listen to a man in uniform that has a gun."

"I have my own policies about men with guns." Spencer piped up in the other room to the detective who had decided to stand really close.

"Really? Do those policies include biting them and never listening to what they say?"

"Some of them."

"Mr. Perkins, how often do you go to the Cathedral Station?"

"Oh, well sometimes two or three times a week. I live close by and I have a boring job. I go there to liven up my evenings. Why?"

"Well, we'd like your help in identifying someone who has also been at the club a few times before." O'Hara slid the photo over of their murder suspect.

"I know this A-Hole! I mean, I don't know his name, but I've seen him around the club."

"You don't know his name?"

"No, but he is one grade A bad guy. With a terrible attitude."

"What has you say this?"

"Well, on nights like last night, when the dance action gets pretty hot, this A-Hole takes the opportunity to yell and get in the dancers' faces. Last week, my partner and I danced on the stage and got all sweaty. Not like the guys last night, mind you, compared to them we were boring."

O'Hara glanced at the mirror and smirked through it to the men she knew were on the other side.

Shawn chuckled and grabbed Lassiter's hand that he felt was touching his. "Looks like we really gave them a show last night, Lassie."

Lassiter tensed for a small second when Shawn grabbed his hand, but made no move to pull away. Instead, wrapped his fingers around the hand more comfortably.

"I guess so."

"Any way, that night this guy got all up in my face about making a spectacle out of myself. He asked me if I had any self-respect or dignity, how could I be flaunting myself on stage like that. I thought he was gonna deck me."

"What happened after he yelled at you?"

"He just turned and walked away. I figured he went along his un-merry way. There was certainly something dark about that man."

"Did he yell at your dance partner too?"

"Nah, he just yelled at me. It was probably because my dance partner wasn't really into it that much. I had to drag him on stage; I thought he had a little bit of fun, though. Angry dude seemed upset at me for flaunting all of this, you know?"

"Yeah. Mr. Perkins, thank you for talking to us." O'Hara gave the man her business card. "If you see this man again, please call us right away, please." Lassiter took that as his cue to leave the observation room. Shawn followed and went upstairs to try and find Guster.

O'Hara came out and gave Lassiter the case file. She was the lead detective on the case, but he was still Head Detective of the department. All that was left was for his, Guster's and Spencer's statements to be added and, of course, catching the asshat murderer.

"Should we have a police escort follow Mr. Perkins? In case the guy comes back after him?"

"No. We'll have McNab take him home, but he has our number."

Mr. Perkins came out behind McNab and instantly recognized Lassiter.

"Hey man. They call you in, too about that A-Hole?"

"Well, actually..."

"If that angry dumbass was there last night, you would have had him in your face. Trust me, that dance was epic. The two of you had moves that should have been illegal!"

Before Lassiter could say anything, Perkins continued talking.

"Look, you've got your man, I understand, but if you're ever looking for a stand-in dance partner, call me." Mr. Perkins pulled out a card of his own and handed it to Lassiter. "Hmm. He is one lucky son of a bitch." Perkins ran his eyes over Lassiter in such a way that he felt violated.

"McNab, take Mr. Perkins home. Mr. Perkins, call us if you see or hear anything." Perkins' eyes widened at Lassiter's orders to McNab. Lassiter put his hands in his pockets, which pushed his suit jacket up and over to expose his badge and his firearm.

"No problem, Detective. If I see or hear anything, you'll be the first person I call."

As McNab and Perkins walked away, Lassiter was still shocked by the other man's obvious come-on, but overheard his remarks to McNab.

"All of that and he's a cop, too? Damned sexy."

* * *

Lassiter and O'Hara returned to their desks. He still had his report to write and she had Mr. Perkins' interview statement to add to the case file.

Lassiter noted that his chair's seat was warm, no doubt from Spencer sitting in it while he was downstairs. Spencer sitting in his chair could only mean one thing and Lassiter looked up.

"Crap, Spencer." He looked back at his desk and verified that the fake psychic had, indeed, flung every pencil into the ceiling tile. Again. Why did he find that so damned amusing? He opened his drawer to dig out a new pencil and found a note written in Spencer's handwriting.

Lassiter glanced towards the conference room where Spencer and Guster sat. They looked like they were working on their statements, but looks tended to be deceiving, especially in Spencer's case.

He opened the note and read it:

"Carly-Q. Can't wait for dinner. Remember- I probably won't put out on the first date. Unless you ask nicely, or show up on time, or smile really cute. H & Ks"

The smile he had earlier this morning returned. It must have lingered too long and he must have let his mind wander. He didn't notice his partner had walked up beside him.

"What do you have there, Carlton? Grocery List?"

He jumped at her voice so close by. "Hm? Yeah. Going to the store after my shift." He folded up Spencer's note and placed it into his suit jacket pocket.

"I was going to run and pick up lunch. Thought you could eat while you wrote your report?"

"Thanks, O'Hara." He dug ten dollars from his wallet and handed it over. "Where are you going?"

"To that little deli you took me to two weeks ago. I have a craving for a nice peppered turkey and avocado sandwich."

"Sounds fantastic. Corned beef, please. Rye. No seeds."

"Sure thing, partner."

He watched her grab her purse and leave. Lassiter started his report but after filling in the generic info, such as date, location and reporting officer, his attention wandered to the conference room. So far, Spencer and Guster seemed to be working intently. Lassiter realized he hadn't ever watched Spencer work before, and he found the man to be strangely focused on his task. In fact, Spencer was more focused than Lassiter was at the moment.

Lassiter pulled out his phone and sent a text. He watched as the recipient of the message pulled out his phone, looked through the conference room window at him and typed in a response.

Once Lassiter read the reply, he felt his mind clear slightly and was finally able to begin his field report.

When O'Hara returned with lunch, Lassiter was nearly finished and it was obvious that the Psych duo had decided to take a break. Spencer had taken many of the coffee stirrers from the break room and started to craft some sort of structure. Guster looked to be immersed in a game on his phone. O'Hara delivered their food and returned with his food along with hers. He started pulling out their sandwiches as she went to pull her chair over to his desk.

"Here's your change, and this is for you. Shawn thought you needed the potassium? I'm not sure what he meant."

Lassiter looked at the banana next to his sandwich and turned towards the conference room. Spencer was watching him to gauge his reaction. Once again, he felt his face flush. He thought about how he had last seen Spencer eat a banana.

"No one knows what Spencer thinks half the time, but I'll eat this later. Thanks O'Hara."

"Welcome. So, partner. We haven't talked about last night and that dance you had with Shawn..."

Lassiter swallowed the bite he had taken before he replied.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, for starters, where did you learn those moves? I had no idea you could do any of that. It was kind of hot."

"O'Hara."

"Sorry, but it's true. Everyone was talking about it this morning."

"I had some dance lessons, oh, about a lifetime ago, and I decided to just let go and have a little fun. I couldn't have done that without your encouragement, though." He thought about the intense kissing he shared with Shawn after that dance. "Thank you."

"Nice to know I inspired you."

"Teamwork O'Hara." He stood up after collecting their trash and winked at her. Lassiter watched as Guster left the conference room. He grabbed the banana Spencer had gotten him and walked into the room.

"Hey, Lassie. We're almost done in here. Thank God. I am so bored in here."

Carlton sat on the table with his back to the windows and peeled the banana. He saw Shawn's eyes lock onto his mouth and he smirked.

"Police work is sometimes boring, Shawn."

"I've never been so happy about my decision to not be a cop as I am right now."

"Really?" Carlton ran his tongue around the tip of his banana before he closed his lips around it. He held the base of the fruit and he slid the length of it into his mouth until it hit the back of his throat and he moaned.

"Oh man, yeah. So glad I'm not a cop."

Carlton continued to work the banana with his tongue and kept his eyes on Shawn. Carlton was thrilled to see how Shawn was so flushed as he watched Carlton call him on the taunt. Did he really think Carlton wouldn't be up for the challenge? He sucked his cheeks in around the banana and pulled in all the way out of his mouth slowly.

"Lassie..." Shawn's voice was breathy and he sounded so turned on.

Carlton again worked the banana into his mouth, slow enough to torment his observer. He heard a slight squeak come from Shawn's throat. Once the banana had been thoroughly softened, Carlton pressed his tongue against it to the roof of his mouth. Without the use of his teeth, he managed to mash the banana and swallow without once removing it from his mouth.

"Jesus, Lassie. That was the hottest thing I have ever watched, and I have watched plenty of porn and pay-per-view."

"Just thought I had to return the favor after what you did."

"Thank you."

"No problem." He walked past Shawn in order to throw away the peel and lightly slapped the other man's shoulder. "Now finish your statement so you can get out of here and enjoy the rest of your Saturday. I wouldn't want you to be late for something later, like a date or anything."

Lassiter returned to his desk to finish his report and Shawn went back to writing his statement.

* * *

Spencer and Guster left the station around two o'clock in the middle of having an argument about which Muppet movie was the best. Lassiter found himself glad Spencer could get out and enjoy his day, however he spent his time. He and O'Hara ended up catching a robbery case and spent the rest of the afternoon at the jewelry store that had gotten robbed.

It was six o'clock before they were able to leave the scene and return to the station to clock out and go home.

"What are your plans tonight, Carlton?"

"Actually, Spenc- Shawn and I are going out to dinner."

"Really? A real date, then?"

"I'm trying not to think of it that way. Dating has never been something I've been good at. I figure, if I keep thinking that I'm just meeting him for dinner, things might turn out better."

"Carlton, just be yourself. He already likes you and knows you and your quirkiness. That's half the battle of a first date, right?"

"Maybe. I hope you're right." He walked her to her car before he headed to his own.

When he got to his house, he sent a message to Spencer.

"I'll pick you up at your place. Eight O'clock still good?"

"See you then, Lassie. Where are we going?"

"Surprise."

"What should I wear? Tie?"

"Do you even own a tie?"

"One."

"No tie."

"You either."

"Spencer."

"Don't do it, Lassie."

"I'll wear what I want to wear." Carlton smiled. He couldn't remember ever having fun while sending messages over a phone. He definitely needed to change his phone plan soon.

"Whatevs..."

"See you soon, Shawn."

"H & Ks"

* * *

Carlton knocked on Shawn's apartment door and couldn't help himself from feeling a little nervous. He hadn't been on a date in months and it hadn't gone well at all. He hoped O'Hara's theory that since he and Shawn already knew each other that some of the awkwardness of small talk would be alleviated.

Shawn opened the door and gestured for Carlton to come in.

"It's not much, but it's comfortable."

Carlton looked around. He had pictured Shawn's apartment to be messy and cluttered and to resemble a college dorm, but the only thing that it would have in common to a dorm was its size. It was small and more than a little sparse, but the things Shawn did have were interesting and fun.

"Where did you find this?" Carlton looked at the wall-size poster of the Six Million Dollar Man with envy. "I loved this show. Steve Austin was cool."

"eBay is a world of wonder, Lassie. It's where I also found this pinball machine. Although, getting that in the door was considerably more difficult than the poster."

"I don't doubt that." Carlton walked over to the pinball machine and ran his hand across the glass. Shawn's apartment was everything his wasn't. It was fun, bright, and the '80s collectibles displayed around brought back teenaged memories. He felt years fall away as he remembered the TV shows, toys and movies of the past.

"Wow. I had one of these once." He picked up a handheld game that seemed ancient nowadays. It only had red blinking lights to represent the players' progress across the screen. "I think my mother tossed it when she realized how much time I spent in my room playing it to avoid spending time with my family." Carlton put it back on the shelf after he turned it off. "Loved that thing."

Shawn came up behind Carlton and wound his arms around the detective and clasped his hands together at his waist. Carlton leaned into the embrace and patted Shawn's hands, before he turned around.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Sure." Shawn let go and turned to leave his apartment. "Glad you didn't wear the suit and tie, Lassie. You look more relaxed this way. Although, don't you feel odd to be walking around unarmed?"

"Who says I'm unarmed, Shawn?" He walked back to Shawn's door but the other man just stopped and stared. He was obviously trying to figure where Carlton was strapped. "Really? You are the son of a former cop, aren't you?" He lifted his pant leg slightly and showed Shawn his ankle holster with the Glock 17 that rested there.

"Now that is hot, Lassie. So, where are we going?"

"Somewhere that I was told you like to go." He opened the car door for Shawn as he got in.

Once he was behind the wheel and they were headed to the restaurant, Shawn placed his hand on Carlton's thigh.

"You really can't help but be chivalrous, can you?"

"What are you talking about Shawn? I figured I asked you out, I'm driving, I should be nice and hold the door open for you. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Nope. It was nice."

When they got to the restaurant, Shawn laughed.

"Red Robin? Dude. This place is awesome. How did you know that I like to eat here?"

"Guster."

"Aw, yes. You played the best friend card. Good one, Lassie. Not fair, though. You don't have a best friend that I can squeeze information out of."

Shawn walked alongside Carlton towards the restaurant. His hand would keep breezing against Carlton's like he was asking for permission. So, on the next pass, Carlton grabbed the hand and twined his fingers with Shawn's.

* * *

They were seated in a small booth; Carlton chose to sit facing the entrance. He never sat with his back to a door if he could help it. He thought Shawn would sit on the opposite side, but the other man surprised him when he sat on the same side and their legs touched.

The waitress came around and they ordered. Both men seemed nervous, as the part of the date that they both struggled with was upon them. Shawn was the one who spoke up first.

"OK, Carlton. Where did you get your Masters in Criminal Justice?"

Carlton chuckled. "You remembered that, huh?"

"I did. Did you go to a local college? Night school?"

"I went to UC Santa Barbara for my bachelors degree; did that in three years, instead of four. Entered the academy and worked through my Masters degree while assigned to the SBPD."

"Huh. Stayed local, then? Did you do any traveling or anything?"

"Actually, I did. It was the motivation behind getting my Bachelor's degree early. I took the last year and drove around the U.S. never got to Hawaii or Alaska, but most of the lower forty-eight and Mexico."

"Ooh. Mexico. Fun times."

"How about you? I know from your file that you've held jobs everywhere, but did you ever go to college?"

"Actually, I hit the road right after high school. Came back a couple years later and dragged Gus to Mexico."

"Really? How did that go?"

"Not well. He has vowed never to go back to Mexico with me. Ever. After the second time."

Both men laughed at that and Carlton felt this was going well. He hoped Shawn thought so.

"Was college as much fun as the movies make it seem?"

"It had its moments, but I wasn't there to socialize. I knew what I wanted, and worked hard to get it done. I know I was thought of as a stick in the mud by most, but being on a scholarship, I didn't want to screw around."

"But you did do some of that, too, right?"

"What?"

Shawn leaned in closer, to nearly whisper in his ear. "Screw. Around. At least a little?"

He felt that insidious blush come over his face again. Carlton cleared his throat. So far the conversation was going smoothly. He just never felt comfortable talking about personal and private things. Shawn apparently wasn't as worried about that kind of boundary.

"Just a little. Okay, a lot." He looked over at Shawn who had a huge smirk on his face. "My roommates would always set me up in order to try and get my head out of the school work."

"That sounds kinda fun."

"What's not fun is trying to study for an important exam with a talented brunette with braces in between your legs the whole time. Very distracting, and more than a little painful."

"I'd have to take your word on that."

By the time the waitress dropped off their food, they had found a comfortable pace of conversation; each of them giving up personal information a bit at a time. Carlton enjoyed talking with Shawn and he couldn't remember the last time he had opened up about himself with anyone else.

He was grinning as he and Shawn walked back to his car holding hands.

"You know, Victoria and I never walked anywhere while holding hands? She said she couldn't keep up with my walking pace and that it felt like I was dragging her around."

"I think I'm keeping up just fine, Lassie. Maybe she just didn't like affection, she could have been suffering from frigidity."

"That would explain more than just the hand-holding issue."

When they reached the car, Shawn leaned his back against the door and blocked Carlton's ability to open it. Carlton stood in front of him and put his hands on Shawn's sides as he leaned down.

Shawn closed his eyes and Carlton kissed him. It didn't have the same heat or intensity as the other times they kissed, it was slower and more drawn out. Carlton felt like he could stand and kiss him like that forever. Eventually, they did pull away from each other and climbed into the car.

"I don't want to go home yet, Carlton."

"Okay. I have an idea." He pulled the car out of the parking space and drove towards the beach. He stopped near the boardwalk. "Let's just hang out for a bit, is that good?"

"Yes."

The two men walked along the pier together and just talked. Shawn had decided against holding hands in lieu of putting his hand into Carlton's back pocket. Carlton, in turn, ran his arm across Shawn's back and held his hand on Shawn's shoulder. They told each other about their favorite foods and restaurants and Carlton told Shawn about his allergy to mint.

"Really? That has to suck. That has to severely limit your choices in toothpaste."

"When I was a kid I got to use the bubblegum flavored ones, which was great. Now I just stick the cinnamon."

"That explains the cinnamon and cranberry taste the night we kissed in the bathroom at the Cathedral Station. For the life of me I couldn't figure out where the cinnamon flavor came from when all I saw you drink was cranberry juice."

"Cinnamon mystery solved, Shawn?"

"Well, now I can finally get some sleep with that answered."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was keeping you up at night."

Sometime halfway down the pier, they passed two drunken redneck-ish fisherman. It looked like they were putting their gear away to get ready to leave and Lassiter hoped one of them had the sense to stay sober to drive. He didn't really want to pull his badge and write a ticket while he was on his date.

When Carlton and Shawn got to the end of the pier, they sat down on a bench and watched the water. Shawn seemed to relax with the sound of the waves and put his head on Carlton's shoulder while he played with their fingers in his lap.

"This is great, Lassie."

"Yeah, it is Shawn." He leaned and lightly kissed Shawn's forehead.

"What's this world coming to Joe, when we can't fish on the pier without seeing a couple of those homosexuals?" He whistled in their direction and Lassiter guessed he was trying to get them to turn around. He wasn't going to play the idiot's game, but Shawn sat up and let go of Lassiter's hand. Both of them sensed that their peaceful date was over.

The men laughed out loud like the statement was funny but Lassiter's instincts told him these guys were trouble.

"Come on, Shawn. Let's head back to the car."

"Good idea."

As they walked back, the guys watched them and one of them took a step closer.

"I don't know, Charlie, but these guys don't look too friendly."

"You're a dumbass, Joe. All the gays are friendly. At least, that's what we're told, right?"

Lassiter judged from the word slurring that neither of them should be driving home.

"That's okay, right? Us straight guys are still allowed to talk to you people, right?"

Lassiter and Shawn kept walking and Lassiter made sure he was between the drunken asshats and Shawn.

"Hey, slim. I'm talking to you. What? Don't you faggots have any manners no more?"

Charlie got in front of Lassiter and blocked his path. Lassiter pushed Shawn forward and gestured that he should keep walking.

"What's the matter? Don't want to talk to me? I think that's rude. I thought all you homos were polite and friendly to everyone. Or do you only talk to guys when you want your dick sucked?"

Shawn had moved closer to the car, but stayed on the pier. Lassiter reached his left hand into his pants pocket for his badge.

"You need to back off, or you're going to find yourself having a bad night."

Joe joined Charlie next to Lassiter and he tried to take a step back from the drunken duo.

"Okay, look guys, obviously we had a miscommunication. I didn't realize that it was homophobic douche bag Saturday."

Charlie's pulled back and his fist connected with Lassiter's nose.

"How's that feel on your gay face?"

"Just remember, you threw the first punch." He pulled out his badge. "You just assaulted a detective with the SBPD."

"Whatever, asshole. That's not a real badge."

It was Joe's turn to try and hit Lassiter, but this time Lassiter blocked it and decked him in the jaw. As he reeled from the blow, Charlie tackled Lassiter full force and knocked him to the ground.

He got in a couple of hits while Lassiter recovered the breath that got knocked from him upon impact. His third one never connected and Lassiter rolled Charlie off of him and got back on his feet.

He kicked Charlie in the ribs before Joe came back for second round. Joe made to punch Lassiter in the face, but Lassiter ducked down to his knees and landed a blow to Joe's nuts.

Joe sank to his own knees and panted in pain while Lassiter grabbed the Glock from his ankle holster. Lassiter wrenched Joe's arms around his back and held the man's wrists with one hand and aimed his gun at Charlie who was still writhing in pain from Lassiter's kick to the ribs.

"That wasn't a fake badge and this isn't a fake gun. You are both under arrest."

Lassiter looked towards Shawn and his car. He was happy to see Shawn inside the car using the radio to call in the incident.

* * *

The two idiots lost all their fight and Lassiter had them both on their knees in the parking lot, legs crossed and hands on their heads when a black and white and an unmarked cruiser arrived. Shawn had snapped Lassiter's badge to the detective's belt while they waited so that it was obvious to whoever arrived that he was a police officer.

"Detective Lassiter. We'll take them from here, sir." Officer McNab and Officer Fielding were the first on the scene and dragged the two idiots into the cruiser. Lassiter could finally lower his arms and re-holster his firearm.

The other vehicle had Detectives Dobson and Wilder.

"We'll need both your statements about what happened. Detective, do you need medical treatment?"

Lassiter's nose had bled quite a bit during the fight, but nothing was broken. He'd have a black eye for a few days, but nothing serious.

"No. This is all superficial. I just need to clean up is all."

Shawn handed Lassiter a water bottle and a handkerchief from Lassiter's car. Lassiter gave him an appreciative smile.

"Thanks, Shawn." He couldn't read Shawn's expression and he hadn't said anything to him after the confrontation. He figured their date would go into the book as a flop. Getting into a fight, bleeding and making an arrest couldn't make the happiest of endings to a date.

It took them forty-five minutes to give their statements Dobson and Wilder, and then they were alone again. Lassiter took inventory of the damage done during the altercation. His shirt's shoulder seam had ripped open, there was a button missing from the shirt, the knees of his pants were torn, his knees were scuffed and had dried blood on them, his nose felt bruised, his face still had some dried blood and his right shoulder felt strained. He looked and felt like a mess as he walked over to Shawn.

"Are you really okay, Carlton?"

"Yeah. A little banged up, but nothing too serious. How are you holding up after what happened?"

"I'm fine. Those guys were real A-holes, but I'm just sorry I didn't help you back there."

Shawn leaned into him and Carlton hugged him.

"I had no expectation of you stepping in to help. The day I can't handle two drunken homophobic idiots is the day I turn in my badge. Okay? Look at me, Shawn."

Shawn picked up his head from Lassiter's chest.

"I'm fine, but I'd like you to drive the way back to your apartment." He tossed his car keys to Shawn and got into the passenger's seat.

When Shawn sat in the driver's seat, it took him a minute to learn the controls to adjust the seat to his height.

"Go ahead and save your seat settings in the number two button."

Shawn looked and Carlton with an odd expression.

"Just in case you ever have to drive for me again, you won't have to take the time to adjust everything all over again."

He watched as Shawn saved his seat setting and pulled out of the parking spot. Carlton closed his eyes and rested. His shoulder's ache was the reason behind asking Shawn to drive back into town. He figured he could drive the shorter distance between Shawn's apartment to his house on his own.

Shawn had only driven about five minutes when he felt the car pull over and park. He opened his eyes and made to sit up when he was met with a lap full of Shawn Spencer.

"Shawn. What the hell?" Shawn's lips covered his and he felt the seat move back and down. He was nearly laying down in his seat, Shawn's tongue in his mouth and Shawn's hands were undoing his belt.

When Shawn pulled away, he had a crazed look in his eyes.

"Lassie, what you did tonight was the hottest thing I have ever seen. I have never been on a date that ended up like a scene from Magnum PI or CHiPs or anything remotely as sexy as that before."

Carlton could understand that to some extent. As the man, in a female/male relationship, it sort of fell to them to protect the other. He looked out the car window and saw they were parked in an empty parking lot near a strip mall. At least no one was around to witness whatever Shawn had planned. Which, obviously, included a blowjob.

Shawn had Carlton's pants undone and both his boxers and pants pulled down to his knees faster than he thought anyone could move. Shawn gripped him with one hand and the other went under Carlton's shirt as his mouth covered Carlton's member.

The sudden warmth, wetness and sucking sensation had Carlton seeing stars. His head fell back onto the seat as Shawn sucked him to full hardness. He had certainly not foreseen this to happen on the date, but it felt damned good.

Shawn's hand pumped him as his mouth sucked. Shawn's movements were hot and fervent. Carlton watched as Shawn's mouth rose and fell along his shaft.

"Oh God, Shawn. Jesus." He bucked his hips to meet Shawn's rhythm. Each time Shawn pulled his mouth to the tip, his tongue would roll and dip into the slit. The times he had fantasized about this came nowhere close to the real thing. "Shit. You're so good at this. Oh. My. God."

He felt Shawn's lips move to form a smile and a hum from the back of his throat met the tip of his cock. He knew he was close to cumming. He felt he needed to warn Shawn.

"Shawn. I'm gonna. God." Shawn took all of Carlton inside of his mouth to the back of his throat and swallowed as Carlton came. "Oh my God."

Shawn took his time, finishing Carlton off and cleaning him up, before redressing the detective. Carlton watched Shawn do all of that with fascination.

As Shawn moved to go back to the driver's seat, Carlton reached out and stopped him. He pulled him back into his lap and held his ass.

"What was that for?"

"A thank you? I have never had anyone get into a fight or protect me before. You were amazing."

"I was going to say the same thing to you. That was the most amazing blowjob I have ever had, Shawn." He pulled Shawn closer and leaned in to kiss him, but Shawn pulled back.

"I probably taste like you-"

"I'm sure you do." Carlton kissed Shawn with his tongue licking in all the crevices of Shawn's mouth. At some point he'd tell Shawn that one of his kinks was to taste himself in the mouth of his suitor after he came. He liked knowing that he'd just been in there and had done that. "Would you like me to-?"

"No need. I uh, came already. Rain check for next time?"

"Definitely." He kissed Shawn once more before he allowed him to return to the driver's side. He fixed the seat and they both re-did their seat belts and they were headed back to Shawn's apartment.

They made out for a while on Shawn's porch and then Shawn pulled away to unlock his door. Shawn turned on his light and he stepped inside.

"This was the best first date, Lassie. Thanks."

"Mine too, Shawn. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Yes."

Carlton drove back to his house happier than he had been in ages. For the first time since that astronomer case, he was able to get to sleep without masturbating, and he had Shawn to thank for that.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 7-**


	8. Chapter 8-A Friend, A Partner, The Chief

**Warnings:** Adult Situations between to grown men. Just sayin'.

**A/N:** This has no attached song title, but it needed to be written. I firmly believe that Lassiter and Shawn (on their own) wouldn't be capable to forge through a relationship. Whether it be from self-doubt, commitment issues or what have you. They both need "back up" if you will and O'Hara and Gus are there for them in this capacity. Just wanted to show that a little here. Read and Review if you feel the need.

* * *

Shawn Spencer sat on his couch after eating three bowls of Fruit Loops for breakfast. He thought about what had happened between himself and Lassie last night. He kept asking himself why the incident on the pier and the resulting fight had turned him on so much that he had gone down on Lassie the way he had; in the other man's car, of all places.

He had fantasized scenarios where he ended up sucking off the tightly wound detective in odd locations: Bathrooms, crime scenes that didn't involve bloodied bodies, strip clubs, even the hood of Lassie's Crown Vic. Shawn did want to do things to and with the other man in all those places, but he also imagined they'd start off the sexual part of a relationship in a more romantic spot, like a bedroom. It was his own fault that Lassie's Ford Fusion would forever be where he first sucked Lassie's dick. For a moment, Shawn cursed his own impulsive behavior. If he had just shown some self-control, he could have had the nice and romantic first time with Carlton.

Instead he had gone and messed it all up.

He never realized how much he actually wanted the fabled, fluffy specialness usually reserved for young women on the eve of their de-virginization. At his own thoughts, Shawn Spencer began to wonder if he was the girl in the new relationship.

He would join Juliet to get a Mani Pedi every once in a while; something Carlton would never do. Shawn could spend more than twenty minutes to get his hair 'just right'; Carlton kept his so short that it had nearly nowhere to go on its own. Shawn made sure he didn't violate any "fashion rules" before he headed out- no white socks with dark pants and shoes, no white shoes after Labor Day and others. Lassie's suits and shirts were almost always nice, but most of his ties were hideous. He was sure that he had spent more money on a pair of jeans than Lassie had on an entire suit.

Shawn was so caught up in his lists and trying to see something that didn't prove that he was the "Buffy" to Lassie's "Angel" that when his phone rang, he actually let out a small scream.

"Crap. I am the girl."

The Caller ID showed that it was Gus on the phone.

"Gus. Just the person I need to talk to. Am I a girl?"

"What? Shawn, no. You are a guy. What would make you think you're a girl? You didn't watch "All of Me" again last night, did you? You know that movie is just creepy."

"No, I didn't watch Steve Martin fight with himself. Although, that movie is kinda cool in a weird way. Never mind. What's up?"

"Thought I'd see if you wanted to grab lunch. I also wanted to talk to you about my date with Maxine last night."

"Nice. Yes. Let's do lunch and dish about our dates."

"You had a date last night, too? Lassiter asked you to dinner didn't he? Figured that's why he asked me where you liked to eat."

"Yeah, thanks for giving him the heads up, Red Robin was awesome. I can be ready in twenty minutes."

Shawn heard his best friend sigh. He knew his friend well enough to know that he wanted to tell Shawn about the woman he was seeing, but was uncomfortable about hearing details about Shawn and Lassiter. Shawn could tell he was waging an internal debate.

"Okay, Shawn. I figured we'd get to this point eventually. You listen to me about Maxine and I'll listen to you about Lassiter."

"Thanks, buddy. You are the best!"

"I know. I'm on my way now."

Shawn hung up his phone and got ready. He wasn't quite ready when Gus arrived, so he let his friend in and asked for just a few more minutes.

"Maybe you are the girl."

"Gus! Really?" Shawn figured that whining didn't really help out his case either.

"I thought about it on my way here. If I had to choose between you or Lassiter to be the girl in your relationship, it would be you. Lassiter is way more intimidating, in fact, he can be downright scary. If I ran into the two of you on the street intent to mug either of you, he's the one who'd make me back off and run away."

When Shawn was finally ready, the two friends left for lunch.

"But Lassie has to have everything in its place and he gets almost PMS-like if I touch his things."

"That just means he has some OCD issues, Shawn. Not that he's feminine."

"Lassie's not doing drugs, Gus."

"OCD, Shawn. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, LSD is a drug."

"I thought is was a religious group."

"That's LDS; Latter Day Saints. Otherwise known as Mormons."

"Don't let them hear you say that man, that's offensive."

"They're Mormons, Shawn. Mormons. It's not an offensive term."

"Whatever dude."

"You probably shouldn't think too much on the whole 'who's the girl' issue. You're a guy, Lassiter's a guy; neither one of you could ever be called feminine for any reason. Both of you would make seriously ugly women."

"Thanks, I think."

The two friends ordered their lunches before Gus started in about his date with Maxine.

Gus cautiously started talking to his best friend about his date around eating his lunch. Shawn couldn't help but grin on the inside. He knew that his friend was purposely leaving out details so that when it was Shawn's turn to talk about his date with Lassie, he wouldn't get too graphic. Just because he knew why his friend was leaving bits out of his story, didn't mean he wasn't going to try to get some juicy details so he could give some of his own.

"Where did you take her, again?"

"We went to Mario's. Juliet said they had good bread and appetizers."

"Oh, yeah. She's talked about that place. Lassie says their Chicken Parmesan is pretty good, too."

"It is. That's what I decided to order."

"So, after dinner?" Shawn waggled his eyebrows.

"She needed to head home. She had the midnight shift at the hospital. So, I took her home and that's all."

"Uh huh. Good night kiss? Did she invite you in?"

"Okay, Shawn. We kissed, yes. And I told you that she had to get to work, so there wasn't much time for anything else."

"Not much time, but there was a little time, right? Was it a long kiss?"

"Pretty long."

"Did she wear that waxy, cheap lip gloss?"

"No. Her lips were soft and tasted like strawberries and mint and I'm not going into it any further about what happened at her place."

"Okay. But you did get to go inside. Are you seeing her again soon?"

"She's taking a vacation this week, so we're planning something for when she gets back. She says she likes dolphins, so I was thinking of taking her to the aquarium. She also wants to meet you. She thinks it's nice that I have such a long-time friend."

Shawn's eyebrows rose up and he smiled wide.

"Really? The girlfriend wants to meet me?"

"Yes."

"Let me know when and I'll be there, buddy. I promise to keep all judgments to a minimum, but I will still bring my A Game to vet this lady."

"Sure, Shawn. I get it. When do I get to do my best friend vetting on Lassiter?"

"What? You already know him."

"I still think I have a right to ask him questions like you do with my girlfriends."

"But you see him all the time. I guess anytime you can talk with him, go for it. Remember, he's like the king of interrogation tactics. Don't be shocked if he turns the tables on you, man."

There was a slight pause on the conversation for a bit and the waitress brought their checks. They paid individually, for one of those rare times.

"You know you're busting to tell me how your date was with Lassiter. Go on."

"Thanks, buddy. You know you're the only one I can talk to about stuff like this. I appreciate it, I do."

"Come on, son. You know I'm here for you."

"I know. So, first he picks me up, looking like he just walked off of the cover of GQ. No tie, no suit jacket, stern bush out, very hot. He seemed to like my place; like he was shocked it wasn't a hole. He really liked some of the electronic toys I had on my shelves."

"Really? I would never think Lassiter would like toys."

"Apparently, Lassie didn't get to be much of a play-type kid."

"Hmmm. Explains why he likes you a little more. You're like kid sometimes."

"We went to dinner, which I already said was great."

"Was it just dinner, then?"

"No way. That was just the beginning. It was dinner; we walked on the pier along the beach. There was hand holding, believe it or not. Lassie got to kick the crap out of some homophobic asshats and arrested them for assaulting a police officer. I freaked out from watching such a magnificent display of awesome and must have had some euphoric breakdown."

"A breakdown? Wait, Lassiter got into a fight? Asshats, plural?"

"See? Exciting date, right?"

"Shawn, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly perfect. Lassie's going to have a black eye for a few days and one of his suits is going to be missing its matching pants. Oh, and he now has one less shirt from the altercation."

"But you didn't get hit?"

"No. See, he went all protective. He put himself between those guys and me. Once I saw that he'd been hit, I used his radio and called it in."

"So if you weren't in the fight, how did you have a breakdown?"

"Well, after everything was settled and Detective Dobson took my statement, Lassie let me drive his car back to my place because he was sore. I got so caught up in the moment that it's almost like I had an out-of-body experience. The next thing I know, I've pulled into a parking lot and after a few minutes I had his pants down and I was giving him a blowjob in the passenger seat."

"Shawn, you didn't."

"I did. And I know you don't like details, but I'll only say one thing: his ears are not the only part on him that are oversized."

"Shawn, please."

"Not kidding, though. The SBPD's Head Detective is packing some serious weaponry, besides his sidearm."

"I thought you were only going to say one thing."

"Okay, I'm done."

Shawn sat back in the booth and his tone turned somber.

"Today I'm wishing I hadn't gone down on him last night. What if he thinks I moved too fast or inappropriately? What if he thinks I just want to have sex with him? I don't want to ruin whatever this is or our friendship."

"Well, what happened... after? Did he get mad or push you off?"

"No. When we got to my place, he walked me to the door and we even made out a little."

"I think he's going to be okay with what happened then, Shawn. Have you talked to him yet today?"

"No. I thought he'd like some space in case he was actually mad at what happened. I know he's going to the station later today to deal with the drunken idiots. Not sure how the chief is going to handle the fact that Lassie was in another fight, either."

"Doesn't look too good on his end. She might make him see the department's psychologist again."

"Yeah. He didn't do anything wrong this time, though. Maybe I'll go down there and talk to her on his behalf."

"Might not hurt."

"I'll have to find a way to approach the matter without 'outing' him at the same time."

"She's bound to figure things out sooner or later. Karen Vick is not an idiot."

"True. Let's head out. I'll take my motorcycle to the station."

* * *

Lassiter woke up to a mess of conflicting thoughts and feelings. He knew he had to make it down to the station to deal with the idiots that he fought with last night and he knew that this time the altercation would involve the Internal Affairs department on Monday.

"Great. Another sheet or two into Carlton Lassiter's file."

He figured the thing had to be about three inches thick by know. He knew about the numerous complaints and citations for discharging his weapon. The chief had kept his fight with Officer Marshall out of the file, but the fight on the pier involved an arrest. Vick would have no choice to give him some type of disciplinary action.

The other thing that worried him was what the asshats would say about what led up to the fight on the pier. He wished he knew how serious he wanted to take the relationship with Spencer; especially if today was the day he ended up 'coming out' to his chief.

On the other hand, his date with Spencer went well and he was happy at the thought of going out again with him. As long as he didn't have to arrest anyone next time.

He was midway through his morning run when his phone rang, interrupting his playlist that he'd just added to; damnedable Katy Perry song was addicting.

Lassiter slowed down to a jog to answer.

"Lassiter."

"Carlton. It's O'Hara. Thought I'd call to check on how your date with Shawn went. Are you free to talk?"

"Not at the moment. Can I call you back when I'm done with my run?"

"Oh. Sure thing."

"Tell you what. Why don't you come on over in about an hour, if you can?"

"Okay. I'll be there, partner. Enjoy your run."

"Usually do. Bye."

He hung up, restarted his music and finished his run.

* * *

Lassiter had to admit that he found comfort in the friendship he'd built with his partner. Juliet O'Hara had earned more than his trust; she would have his back through anything, and he was able to see that now. He probably wouldn't have been able to deal with how things were happening without her. When she arrived at his place, some of the worry he'd been carrying all morning eased up. Maybe if he talked things over with her, everything wouldn't look so bleak.

He showed her into the living room and offered her a drink. When he came back with their waters, she seemed to notice that something was wrong. She still hadn't said anything about the obvious black eye he was sporting.

"Did the date not go well?"

"The date part of last night went nicely, I think." He hoped that a date that ended with a blowjob and a make out session afterwards signaled a good date.

"Then why do you look so upset? And can I ask about how you got the shiner? Please tell me that Shawn didn't do that."

"The shiner is attached to the upsetting part of last night. No, Shawn didn't do it. I ended up arresting a couple of drunks for assault."

O'Hara's eyes narrowed, but she didn't interrupt.

"Shawn and I had a great time. We went and had dinner and then went for a walk on the pier. It was all going well until two drunken idiots thought it would be a great idea to harass us with some offensive statements and eventually took a swing at me. I let them land the first punch and flashed my badge. They thought it was fake and continued to swing and attack, but it was easy enough to subdue them due to their inebriated state. Shawn called the incident in and they were brought to the station."

"Oh my God, Carlton. That's terrible. Is Shawn okay?"

"Yeah, they didn't touch him. He did well, although I have to ask him how he was able to break into my car to use the radio."

"He has ways."

"Yes he does."

"Then why the worried face if everything turned out okay?"

"I have to go to the station today because of the arrest and talk to the chief."

"Oh. Then you're worried about this being your second fight in as many days and what she'll do?"

"Yeah, that and if, after the incident report and internal affairs getting involved, I'll have to tell the chief about Spencer and I."

"Yeah. I still remember the sensitivity training we all had to through the last time an officer came out. Maybe you shouldn't worry about all of that just yet. Go down there today and deal with the arrest, and take things one step at a time. Chief Vick has always been fair and, in Shawn's case, extremely tolerant."

"True, and you're right. I shouldn't start brooding and getting all upset until I know anything."

"See? Aren't you glad I'm here?"

"I really am, O'Hara."

"So, after your brawl, did you guys just go your separate ways and end the date or was there more?" Lassiter saw her expression as she scooted to the edge of the couch cushion she sat on, just waiting for details.

He felt hot all of a sudden and he felt the red blush that wound its way from his neck and up to his ears. He shifted in his seat.

"Okay, now you have to tell me."

"Tell you what? The date ended."

"Was there at least a good night kiss?"

"Yes, alright we kissed. Can we drop this now?"

He had never felt this uncomfortable in his own living room before. O'Hara wasn't letting up at all either.

"Only if that's all there is. There's more isn't there? Did he sleep over or did you stay the night at his place?"

"No. I dropped him off at his place afterwards and I came home."

"Then what has you all squirmy? I called you two out at the station and I already know you've kissed. Don't lie to me, you know what happens when you do that."

"Come on, O'Hara. You really can't want to know everything that happens between Shawn and I."

"Oh, but I do. You know I haven't been on a date in a while; I have to hear these things so I can live vicariously through you."

"You are a sick lady."

"Thank you. Now spill."

Lassiter grumbled and then mumbled out a response, but she obviously didn't understand what he said.

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

"Okay. He..., Jesus. He went down and..." He rubbed his face with both hands and tried again. "It was the best blowjob I've ever had, okay? Do you feel better?"

"At his place or yours?"

Crap. He couldn't believe she was still on this.

"In my car. I let him drive because I hurt my shoulder in the altercation. He parked in a parking lot and, you know."

"Wow. That's great. Sounds like you two had a great time last night. Have you talked to him yet today?"

"No. Figured I'd probably see him tomorrow anyway at the station."

"Probably. Still, I know I'd like to hear from a guy after a date. Especially after, you know."

"Maybe I'll call him later."

"Carlton. There should be no maybe."

"Maybe. All I know is that I need to go to the station and deal with this."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Lassiter gathered his keys, badge and put on his holster, as he got ready to leave.

"Not this time, partner. I'll let you now if anything happens."

"You better. Don't forget to call Shawn."

"Maybe."

He walked his partner to her car at the same time the kid who mowed his lawn pulled in.

"Hey Mr. Lassiter. Anything extra you need done this week?"

"No thank you, Cody. I'm heading out for a while. Keep an eye on things, would you?"

"Uh, sure."

Lassiter got into his car and headed to the station to face whatever was coming his way.

* * *

Karen Vick had been reading through the last reports from the undercover operation at the nightclub to file away when an officer interrupted her. The two guys that were brought in last night after an altercation at the pier, with her head detective nonetheless were awake.

"Let's see what they have to say for themselves."

She headed down to the drunk tank where the two were left to sleep it off. At first she had been distressed to hear that Carlton had been involved in another fight. Now she was concerned that one of her top-ranking officers may be developing a destructive habit. She intended to hear from the guys that were booked their side of the story before deciding what to do about Lassiter.

"Hello, gentlemen. I'm Chief of Police Vick. I hope you're up to telling me about the events that led to you being locked in here for the night."

"Man, I don't remember. We were supposed to just go fishing and have a couple of beers on the pier. Charlie, what the hell did you do that we ended up here?"

"Why do you have to blame me for this? You brought the beer. I said a six-pack, man. You brought the twelve-pack. My head hurts."

"What did we do?"

"It seems that as you were drunk you got into a fight and were booked for assaulting a police officer."

"Oh, man. Good one Charlie."

"Why do you think it was me?"

"You're always a pissed off drunk. You punched your own sister at the family barbeque."

"Joe, that was one time."

"So, you two don't remember anything about what happened last night?"

"No, ma'am. Sorry."

"What's going to happen? Do we pay the officer's medical bills or something? Is he in the hospital?"

"Actually the two of you were injured more than my detective. My detective was nearly injury free, fortunately for the two of you. It's possible he won't continue to press charges against the two of you. It's his decision."

"Shit, Charlie. You hit a detective and he proceeded to kick our asses. That's it. I'm not drinking with you anymore."

Chief Vick left the holding cells and re-read the incident report that Detectives Dobson and Wilder submitted when they booked the two jokers. It seemed pretty open-and-shut. If Lassiter didn't want to press charges, the bozos could be released later this afternoon.

She would still deal with the fact that he was involved in another fight separately. She had to get to the bottom of what was causing him to lash out the way he is before Internal Affairs decided it was a pattern.

She was almost to her office when Shawn Spencer called out to her.

"Chief. Can I talk to you in private about last night's events?"

"Sure, Mr. Spencer. I would like to hear your side of things, even though I already read through your statement."

"This is more on Lassie's, I mean Detective Lassiter's behalf."

Chief Vick closed her door.

"Please sit, Mr. Spencer. What did you want to tell me?"

"Don't be too hard on Lassiter for what happened last night. He was just protecting me from those two drunk guys."

"The two drunks downstairs say they can't remember anything that led up to them being brought here. Your statement says they were approaching the two of you, obviously drunk, that they made some inappropriate statements that led you to believe they were going to harm you."

"Yes. They assumed we were together and made some threatening statements. Lassiter told them to back off and kept their attention in order for me to call it in. One of them punched him in the face and continued to swing at him even after he showed them his badge."

"So Carlton did not provoke those two and he wasn't out looking for a fight? I really need to know this Mr. Spencer because from my perspective it seems my Head Detective is spiraling out of control."

"No, Chief. Lassie did nothing to provoke them and he was definitely not searching for a fight last night."

"What were the two of you doing at the pier last night?"

"We were out talking about the undercover case."

"I see. You've worked with him on cases for a while now; do you think Detective Lassiter is suffering from too much stress lately? Or could be a danger to himself or others at this point?"

"No. Not at all. I mean he's under some stress right now, but you all are. He just has found himself in some rough situations recently, that's all."

"That's all? Well, thank you Mr. Spencer. I hope to talk with him later this afternoon as well. I'll take your statements into consideration when I decide what to do."

Shawn turned to leave, but she had one more question for the department's consultant.

"Mr. Spencer. You wouldn't be in here on his behalf because there's something going on between the two of you?"

"Chief. There's nothing wrong with a friend wanting to keep another friend out of trouble is there?"

"Not at all. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday."

"Thanks Chief."

Karen Vick sighed and leaned back into her chair. After hearing Shawn Spencer's side of the story, she thought about the recent behavior from her detective and some things were starting to click into place. She no longer thought Lassiter had a problem that would land him in the psychiatric chair, but she now thought other things might become an issue if her suspicions were correct. She had to talk to him to figure out what her next step should be.

* * *

When he arrived at the station he had to admit he was nervous. He had no idea what kind of situation he was going to be walking into. He walked straight up the stairs and to the Chief's office. If anyone noticed his black eye, they didn't stop him to talk about it. He didn't really care. He was sure that by now word had gone around about his fight on the pier.

He knocked on the Chief's door and he was allowed in.

"Detective Lassiter. Looks like we need to talk about recent events."

"Yes, Chief."

"Please take a seat."

Carlton sat down as he was asked, but there was no easing of the tension he held in his body.

"You have been in my office two times in the last three days, and today is Sunday, because of physical altercations. You had promised me that this kind of behavior would not continue."

"Yes, Chief. I did. In my defense, this last incident was not the exact same thing. Spencer and I were minding our own business when those two whackaloons approached with intent. The fight with Officer Marshall was completely different."

"I hear you, detective. However, the result is that you have been involved in two physical fights in three days. I need to know what the underlying factor is between these two incidents."

"Three people decided to piss me off at the wrong times? I don't quite understand the question."

"I see that Officer Marshall was relieved from the undercover detail due to his offensive attitudes and behavior at the nightclub. Several complaints were made during the days leading to his removal. I do not disagree with Detective O'Hara's decision, however the timing of these complaints and your fight with him is a little concerning. Couple that with the two drunks downstairs that were taken into custody after reportedly making offending and derogatory remarks that led to you filing assault charges and it leaves me with no choice but to ask you directly."

"Ask me what?"

Lassiter could tell that she didn't really want to be asking him what she needed to ask. He definitely didn't want to answer her if the question was what he dreaded. His heart rate increased and he shifted in the chair.

"The fight you had with Officer Marshall wasn't about favorite sports teams, was it? I realize that I never outright asked you the other day; I want the truth this time."

"No. The fight was not about sports. I don't even follow sports, Chief."

"Was the fight related to the subject that got him removed from the detail?"

"Yes, Chief."

"I think I understand the situation a little better now. For the future, any offensive behavior must be reported to me. I cannot have you fighting in the halls everyday because of a difference of opinion."

"I already promised that would never happen again, Chief. Even if you believed it was about sports team affiliation."

"As to the two that were booked for assaulting you, they don't remember anything from last night. So, it is up to you to continue with pressing charges or not."

"I'd like to see them, if I can, Chief. It's possible that their memories might return if they recognize me."

"It's possible. I would like to think I'd remember the guy who kicked my ass thoroughly. Even if I was totally wasted."

"Are we done here, then?"

"I think so."

Lassiter stood and went to open the door. He was conflicted over the conversation. Vick didn't actually directly ask if he was gay or bi nor did he confirm either to her. He found it a bit confusing to be so vague about something just because of the whole attitude of 'Don't ask, don't tell'. He didn't think he was ready to open about his personal life, but at the same time he didn't want anyone thinking he was ashamed of that part of himself either.

"Just to let you know, Mr. Spencer was in here earlier this afternoon."

"He was? What did he want? Did you assign him to a new case?"

"No. He wanted to talk to me about last night and to tell me that he didn't think what happened was your fault. He told me that you were protecting him on that pier. I'm glad to see that nothing happened to him last night. I'm sorry you were injured, though."

"Just a shiner, Chief. A couple of scrapes. Nothing I can't handle."

"Glad to hear it. I'm also happy to see that you have someone other than your partner in your corner, Carlton. I know it's been a while since you've had the support of a caring friend."

"Thanks, Chief. I think I'm happy to have a friend too. He really came down here on my behalf?"

"Yes. He did. I'll tell you detective, it was a nice change to see him stand up for someone other than himself or Mr. Guster."

"I'm sure it was. Wish I had been here to see that."

Carlton left the Chief's office and went to the holding cells. When he walked in, the two idiots that were in the drunk tank didn't recognize him at all, so he signed the paperwork to drop the charges. With all of that taken care of, he still had one last thing he had to do.

When he returned to his house, he saw that Cody had nearly finished his lawn and that the kid ran up to him with a bag in his hand.

"Mr. Lassiter. A Shawn stopped by and told me to give this you."

"What? Did he say anything else?"

"No. Just put this on your porch and told me to give it to you if I saw you."

"Thanks, Cody." Carlton looked in the bag and smiled. He pulled the pineapple dressed in a tie out of the bag and just laughed. "Spencer."

He went inside and called Shawn while he put on the new tie.

"Hey Lassie. Glad you called."

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you."

"For the pineapple or the tie?"

"What? Oh, both, and for talking with the Chief. Whatever you said helped out the situation, as unbelievable as I find that."

"Sure thing. By the way, do I have to be jealous about that Cody kid that does your lawn?"

"No way. What? Shawn, you really think I'd go for that?"

"He is young and tan, Lassie."

"Too young, dumber than a rock and not my type."

"What is your type, if I can ask?"

"Snarky, smart-ass, has at least one Apple Jacks t-shirt to his name, and has a very talented tongue that should be illegal to use."

"Huh. Sounds oddly specific for a type. You may have to let go of one or two of those conditions in order to find happiness."

"Wish I could, but they have to come in a package, or no deal. Speaking of which, do you have any plans for later? Thought maybe you could come over and we could talk, maybe watch a movie?"

"I don't know. I might have other plans this evening."

Carlton felt his mood darken at the possibility of not getting to see Shawn tonight, but then his doorbell rang and he thought it might be Cody to let him know he was finished. He swung the door open to find Shawn on the other side.

"Spencer! How long have you been out here?"

"Long enough to watch that guy give you the pineapple and to see your face when you saw the tie." He grabbed the tie that now sat at Carlton's neck, which ended up pulling the man onto his porch, and brought the detective's mouth to his. "I'm guessing you like it?"

"I think I do. Thank you." They were so close that when he spoke his lips brushed against Shawn's. Even though they were outside and on his porch, he grabbed Shawn at the waist and pulled him closer before closing the rest of the distance between them and kissed the man in front of him.

The two men were so distracted with each other's tongues that they didn't hear when Cody approached them.

"Ahem. Mr. Lassiter. I'm finished. See you next week."

Lassiter's eyes opened, but he didn't break the kiss. Instead, he just waved Cody away. He started moving them into his house.

After several minutes of groping and manhandling each other at the front door, they broke apart and spoke at the same time.

"I'm sorry about last night." Came from Shawn.

"Thank you." Came from Carlton.

Carlton dropped his hands from Shawn's shoulders to the man's waist.

"Why are you sorry about last night? The fight wasn't your fault. Those guys were just drunk and stupid. They don't even remember what happened. I dropped the charges, but I think I could still get First Degree Stupidity to stick."

"I'm apologizing for what happened after the fight, in the parking lot?"

"Oh. You're apologizing?"

Carlton started to worry that Shawn had changed his mind about this whole thing; even after their crazy make out session moments before.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I jumped on you like that. I just didn't want you to think that I am with you for that one thing, you know?"

"Okay." Carlton was confused and apparently it showed on his face, because Shawn smiled and snickered.

"It was impulsive and clearly a reaction to your display of protectiveness. I have never had anyone step into a situation like that for me before and I'm sorry for jumping ahead several steps in this relationship."

"You know, Shawn, I appreciate that you're thinking about us on a serious level. But don't apologize for last night. It was nice. Great, even." Carlton ran a hand through his hair as he tried to find the right words. "Look, we've know each other and worked together for a while now. I'm not sure how this will all work. I don't care about what timeframe or date number is traditionally accepted for each step we take. You're clearly not comfortable with the speed things progressed last night and, to me, that's what is important. If you want to take this slower than I'll just follow your lead."

"So, last night didn't scare you away or anything?"

It was Carlton's turn to laugh.

"Not at all." He wrapped his arms around Shawn. "What happened was mind-blowing, Shawn. At the risk of overinflating your ego, I have to confess something."

"Oh? What?" Shawn brought his lips to Carlton's chin and started kissing at the other man's jaw line on his way down his neck. Carlton leaned to whisper into Shawn's ear.

"That was the best damned blowjob of my life last night. I do not want you to ever apologize for that."

He felt Shawn's grin against his neck and the heat between them increased. Shawn continued to kiss Carlton's neck and when he reached his collarbone, he bit down hard then sucked at the same spot.

"Oh, God, Shawn. " Carlton hissed at the sensation.

When Shawn stopped, he stepped back from Carlton and drew a breath.

"So you were thanking me a moment ago, for last night then?"

"Among other things."

* * *

Shawn and Carlton eventually settled onto the couch for a movie and they talked through things over pizza and beer.

"Are you sure we aren't moving too quickly? You were concerned about this very thing just two hours ago, Shawn."

They had found themselves half-naked lying horizontal on the couch with Carlton on top of Shawn. The shirts had been removed while they kissed, but Carlton hesitated when he went to reach for Shawn's belt.

"No, not anymore. I'm good as long as you are."

Carlton undid the belt then the pants button and zipper. He grabbed Shawn's boxers and pants together and when Shawn lifted up, he pulled them both down and off at the same time with efficiency. He heard Shawn gasp.

"I know you're good, Shawn. It's my turn to show you that I can be, too."

"I have no doubt, Lassie."

Carlton took Shawn's erection into one hand and started a slow stroke as he kissed then sucked on his balls. Once he heard Shawn moan, he brought his tongue up and along Shawn's entire length, he circled around the tip and placed a kiss.

He looked up at Shawn's face and saw that his eyes were closed and his hands gripped the edge of the couch. Carlton growled his approval and took all of Shawn's cock into his mouth and slowly made his way back up. When he reached the head once more, he brought his hand back around the shaft and continued to stroke and suck Shawn at a faster pace.

One of Shawn's hands wound its way through Carlton's hair and he gripped tightly. Carlton could only make out moaning sounds coupled with the occasional curse word as he felt Shawn's muscles start to tighten. He knew Shawn was getting close; he removed his hand from his shaft so he could take Shawn all the way to the back of his throat. Shawn started to thrust and buck into his mouth. There were more curse words and Carlton heard his name a few times before Shawn yelled out.

"Oh Shit, Carl-" Shawn came before he could get the last syllable of Carlton's name out. The hand in his hair relaxed and moved in a more petting motion as Carlton swallowed what he could and finished Shawn off. When he climbed back onto the couch with Shawn, his knees creaked and popped.

"Are you okay?" He asked out loud when Shawn didn't open his eyes or move. He was breathing, more like panting, but he hadn't moved while Carlton got comfortable behind him on the couch. He lay behind Shawn for a few more moments while Shawn caught his breath.

"I'm great, Lassie. You are amazing."

"Just trying to give back what I got from you last night."

"I feel like my brain has melted inside my skull, but in a really good way."

"Is there a good way for that?"

"I'd say there is. As of now."

"It's late. Would you like to just stay over tonight?"

Shawn made to sit up, but failed. He rolled over to face Carlton instead.

"We would just be sleeping. I really don't have the energy for anything else at this moment and judging by the way you look, you probably shouldn't drive yourself home in this state. Although, you would be relaxed so much that if you were in an accident, you'd probably just bounce."

"Nice image there, coming from a detective."

"Come on, my boneless friend. Let's get you into bed."

Carlton half-carried and half-dragged Shawn into his bedroom, put him into the bed and tucked him in. He set his alarm and slid into the other half of the bed. He leaned over Shawn, who was already on his way to sleep, and placed a kiss on the man's forehead.

"Goodnight, Shawn."

He totally expected Shawn to wake up before he did in the morning and leave. He would be all right with that, too. What he hadn't expected was to hear his alarm in the morning, attempt to reach out to turn it off only to find he couldn't move. Sometime in the night, Shawn had crawled half on top of Carlton and was using him as a full-length body pillow. Carlton had to pull himself out from under the other man in order to reach the alarm and get up.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 8-**


	9. Chapter 9 - Try

**A/N:** I do NOT own any recognizable brand item or character. I would like to be able to afford to hire Timothy Omundson for a long weekend, though. Going to start saving my dimes! (I could start collecting donations...)

* * *

Carlton left Shawn a note taped to the bathroom mirror that assured the other man that he'd be returning after his run. He started the coffee pot and went outside to stretch. He took just a moment to start his newest running playlist before he started. As he rounded the first street corner, he saw Shawn's motorcycle parked near a curb and grinned. That's why he hadn't heard the engine when Shawn showed up at his door yesterday. Sneaky Spencer.

He hadn't expected Shawn to stay through the night. He figured he'd have taken off early back to his apartment. Carlton found he was happily surprised not to have woken up alone. He came to the conclusion that being alone sucked. He had to figure out how to balance his feelings to be with Shawn with the fact that he didn't want to smother the man; he knew how commitment-phobic he could get. Carlton also knew himself enough to know that he had a tendency to become too attached too quickly.

"Moderation, Lassiter. Moderation. You do not want to screw this up."

He continued his run and when the infernal 'Peacock' song played he couldn't help himself to start humming along.

Again, he found himself surprised when he saw that Shawn's bike was still parked in its spot when he was on his way back to his house. As he ran back, he felt his heart rate increase from the anticipation of seeing Shawn and he couldn't decide if he was more anxious about finding Shawn awake or still asleep when he opened his door.

Shawn was still asleep and Carlton decided to go back and pick up the motorcycle. He looked around the floor surrounding the couch to find Shawn's pants and ignored how absurd the strewn clothes looked for the moment. He pulled the keys out of the man's pocket and slipped back outside.

When Carlton reached the bike, he had two thoughts: the first one was that it had been entirely way too long since he'd driven a motorcycle and the second was that he didn't know which key unlocked the helmet from the seat. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he found the correct key. He knew he looked ridiculous in his running pants and wearing the helmet as he pulled into his driveway, but there was a helmet law. There were no laws regarding what to wear clothing-wise; all were merely common-sense recommendations at this point. As he parked the bike and dismounted, he was pleased that no one was outside to watch him anyway.

Carlton started the shower and shaved while he waited for the water to heat up.

He was almost finished with his shower when the bathroom door opened and let in a draft of cool air into the room.

"Morning."

"Hey, Carly. How's the shower?" Shawn's voice was low and sounded as if he were still asleep.

"Good. Warm water always feels good after a run."

Carlton turned to rinse the shampoo out of his hair and while his eyes were closed, he felt Shawn's arms wrap around his waist.

"Shawn, you're gonna get soap in your eyes."

"Don't care."

"Alright. I warned you."

Shawn's face was pressed against back, and even though he enjoyed the company, he needed to rinse the rest out of his hair and off his face or he'd be the one with soap in his eyes.

He returned to rinse his hair and Shawn took the opportunity to run his hands down from Carlton's stomach to more private areas. Carlton's eyes were still closed as Shawn started to stroke him slowly.

"Shawn?"

"Yeah, Lassie?"

"You're going to be impossible, aren't you?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Shawn had woken up enough to add a fake Southern drawl.

Carlton finished rinsing and turned around to face Shawn.

"I'd kiss you, but I don't believe you had enough time out there to brush your teeth yet."

Instead of leaning down to kiss him, Carlton reached down and grasped Shawn's erection to his own and rubbed them against each other. He did lean down, sucked on Shawn's ear lobe and nipped at it as he stroked the both of them.

Shawn's mouth sucked and licked its way around Carlton's chest, navigating around the sternum bush and he bit at Carlton's nipples as he passed them. Carlton hissed both times at the contact. Both men reached to the shower wall as they came together and Shawn used his second free arm to hold Carlton upright.

As soon as they were both breathing regularly again, Carlton turned to do a last rinse and then moved Shawn into the water so he could take his own morning shower.

"Jesus, Lassie. You sure know how to treat a guy."

"Good morning to you, too, Shawn."

Carlton kissed Shawn's forehead before he opened the shower curtain and got out.

* * *

Carlton poured some coffee into his cup and heard Shawn stumble through the hall.

"Thanks for laying out my clothes, Lassie. You didn't want me traipsing through your living room naked?"

"Not especially." The idea wasn't a bad one, but it would have been more distracting than anything. Carlton still had to get to work. "Figured I had to pick all of it up anyway."

Carlton wondered what was taking Shawn so long to walk to the kitchen and when he poked his head around the hall he caught Shawn staring at his Most Wanted wall. He watched as Shawn's eyes scanned the photos and the case information. As he'd seen the last few times they were on a case, the other man's eyes were focused so intently, it was almost as if he was committing everything to memory.

"Hey, Carly?"

"Yeah, Shawn?"

"Do Woody's reports include a sexual assault kit on all victims or just the female ones?"

"You know, I've never thought to ask. Why are you asking?"

Shawn finally wandered into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee. One sugar, no cream and Lassiter wondered how he could stand it that way.

"Well, I just noticed that on your wall that the female victims always indicate whether they were assaulted or not, but male victims don't have any mention of that ever."

Carlton thought about their current open case and followed Shawn's train of thought. He pulled out his phone and began dialing.

"Strode? Lassiter. No, I'm not calling about going to breakfast with you. Tell me, when are the bodies of Doug Chambers and Ted Nelson being released?"

"Really? Okay. Do me a favor. Can you recheck the victims to see if there's any evidence they may have been sexually assaulted? Yes. Thank you. No. Thank you. Bye."

"He really needs to find some friends. He's alone in the morgue all day. He's lonely."

"Obviously. He'll have the results early in the afternoon."

Carlton joined Shawn in the kitchen and leaned against the counter. "Shawn, I have five case files on my wall board and you were only looking at them for about two minutes. How did you notice that all the female vics had the assault results and the men didn't?"

"Come on, Lassie, you know..." He made his signature psychic motion, but Lassiter wasn't having it this time.

"Uh uh, you're not pulling out the psychic card this time."

Coupled with the challenge he had given the other man at the burger joint two weeks ago, it was becoming clearer and clearer to the detective how Shawn has been able to pull off the psychic bit.

"You take after your mother, don't you? I don't see why I never put the two pieces together until now."

"Maybe because you weren't watching me so closely before recently?"

Carlton felt his ears burn at the insinuation that he'd been watching Shawn a lot these days, but he couldn't deny it.

"I've always known the psychic thing was just crap, Spencer. But I have respected the fact that you help out on cases."

"Are you? Are you going to tell the chief?"

Carlton pulled Shawn close to him, it wasn't too long ago that he would have loved to handcuff the charlatan and leave him in the holding cells, but so much has changed between them.

"I tell her all the time that you're not a psychic, Shawn. What makes you think that she'll actually start listening to me today?"

"But you will have to tell O'Hara at some point. She has swallowed your two-bit circus act hook, line and sinker. She needs to know. I'll let you talk to Guster and the two of you can handle that on your own time."

"Thanks, Lassie. Carlton. And Gus thought he'd have to keep a suitcase by the door in order to make a quick run for it on the day you ever found out I wasn't psychic."

"I have always known, you know? Just didn't have the proof. Now that we're seeing each other, I can't use your confession in court anyway."

"Already I am reaping benefits of a grown-up relationship, of sorts."

"Who would have thought that would ever happen?"

"Not me."

Carlton rinsed out their coffee mugs, Shawn didn't actually drink much of his cup, and turned off the coffee maker. As he and Shawn left the house, he felt the urge to kiss him.

Just as if he could really read his mind, Shawn tugged at Carlton's sleeve to stop his forward movement and pulled him into a nice, long lip-lock.

"I'll see you later. Probably around lunch, okay?"

"Sure."

Carlton shook his head to clear his mind then started his car. Shawn got on his motorcycle and he watched him leave before he headed to the station.

* * *

Lassiter had been sifting through several old murder case files with Shawn's question still in his mind. As he read through report after report, he concluded that male victims were hardly ever checked for evidence of sexual assault. Of those who were, ninety percent of them had more obvious signs that led to the coroner to check. On the flip side of the equation, all of the female victims were tested for sexual assault.

"What has you so entrance, partner? It can't be the open robbery case, we've only got paperwork left on that to finish."

Apparently the large pile of files and the hour and a half of taking notes had finally made O'Hara curious.

"It was a theory that Shawn had this morning and I thought I'd check it out."

"Shawn had a theory? This morning?" Her eyebrows shot up in a questioning manner.

Carlton didn't take notice, as he was still flipping pages, lost in his own thoughts.

"Yes. He looked at my Most Wanted wall and "ahem" 'sensed' something was missing from some of the ME's reports." Lassiter closed a file and looked into his partner's knowing face, but missed the meaning in her expression. "Were you aware that nearly none of our male vics get checked for sexual assault, but all female vic are checked?"

"No. I hadn't really noticed any of that before. But you said that Shawn came up with that this morning. After he saw your wall? Which is in your house?"

"Huh?" Lassiter finally caught up with his partner's line of questions. "Oh. Uh. Yeah. He stayed over last night."

She patted his shoulder. "So. You called him."

"Yes. O'Hara. I called him."

He collected half the files and stood up to go to the file room to put them away. Juliet continued to follow him.

"So, what happened? He stayed over, but what happened last night?"

"O'Hara. We have already shared too much of my personal life, haven't we? You aren't going to get a..."

"Blow-by-blow account of events?"

He growled past his partner after he filed the reports, but his face flushed at her word usage.

"There has to be a better term for that, O'Hara."

She laughed at his obvious discomfort.

"Okay. Okay. I'll let it go. But only because I finally have a date for Saturday."

"Finally. Now you can quit living off my sex life." It made Lassiter feel quite odd to say that out loud. Yes, Carlton Lassiter has started to have a sex life!

"For now."

Carlton relaxed as she returned to her desk and he re-filed the remaining files he had looked through.

(-)

He was in the chief's office discussing an update in the autopsy procedures when Woody Strode requested to speak to both of them.

"On Detective Lassiter's hunch, I rechecked our murder victims. Sad to say , but Mr. Nelson had been assaulted sexually. Mr. Chambers had not."

"There's at least that for Tim. It's probably because he wasn't the intended target."

"Was there DNA left behind by our killer?"

"That's the bad news, Chief. Our killer didn't leave any DNA or trace evidence behind. Not even what we'd find from a condom or lubricant. No skin transfer. Nothing."

"Shit. So, we have evidence of the trauma, but nothing that can get us closer to catching the scumbag?"

"Sorry Detective."

"Mr. Strode, Detective Lassiter and I have come up with an update in procedure for future autopsies."

The Chief handed the coroner their handwritten notes with a promise to get a typed version to him later that day. Detective Lassiter left Vick's office after she dismissed him.

As he rounded the corner to approach his desk, he heard Shawn and Guster's banter before he saw the two best friends.

"Lassie! Did our theory pan out? Did Woody find out anything?"

"Yes it did. No he didn't. But the Chief is having our autopsy procedures updated after I researched your theory."

"And?"

"You were right, Spencer. Again."

"I know that must have pained you to say openly, and in public."

"Mr. Spencer. Mr. Guster. May I see you in my office? Just for a minute."

"Gotta go. Let's see what the Head Honcho wants, Gus."

Shawn slapped Lassiter on the shoulder as he passed the detective.

"Detective Lassiter, sir?"

Lassiter turned around to face McNab. He never got used to how much taller the officer was to himself. Usually, he was the tallest in the room.

"Yes, McNab?"

"There's a Tim Potter here and he asked to see you."

"Oh. Okay, thanks."

Lassiter turned to his partner.

"Strode said he had already contacted the family members of our victims to release the bodies. Tim must be here for Doug."

McNab led Lassiter to the receiving area where Tim was signing forms.

"Tim."

"Carlton. Your coroner needed my signature to..." Carlton felt bad for Tim. The man was clearly hurting.

"Yeah. If you'll leave the funeral home's information, everything will be handled for you."

"Thanks, Carl." The man lost the control he had, started crying and grabbed Lassiter into a one-sided embrace.

"Whoa. Okay, Tim. I am so sorry for your loss. You obviously loved him very much."

"I did. I do." He pulled back from Lassiter. "Sorry. I know you don't like open displays, but I couldn't help it."

"It's okay. You're going through a lot."

"It just doesn't seem real. I keep thinking Doug's going to call or come home." Tim started to sob again, and this time Lassiter pulled him to a small hug. He patted Tim on the back, gently.

"I know it doesn't seem like it now, but it will get better. I see it everyday. It will never go away and there will still be hard days." He let go of Tim and looked him in the eyes. "But you will heal."

Tim's eyes and face were red from the crying, but he attempted a sad smile.

"I realize this isn't something you usually do, but Doug's funeral is this Thursday." He pulled out a heavy cardstock card and handed it to Lassiter. "I'd really appreciate it if you could make it."

"I'll see if I can make it. It's in San Diego?"

"Yeah. Doug's family is there. They wanted him close."

"Understandable."

"Before I start crying like a little kid again, Nico had mentioned that you had started seeing someone new?"

"Uh. Well, it's only been in the last couple weeks."

Lassiter shifted his stance and saw Shawn standing at O'Hara's desk. He waved him over.

"Hey, Lassie. Chief says she'll have a check for Gus and I later."

"Tim Potter, this is Shawn Spencer. He's a consultant for the department. Shawn, Tim is the manager of the Cathedral Station and was Doug Chambers' life partner."

"Nice to meet you, Shawn. Nico mentioned that the two of you worked together on the undercover thing at the club. I'd like to congratulate you. You have already successfully gotten Carl to do things I never could in the time we were together."

"Oh?"

Carlton saw Shawn's eyes narrow and for just a moment he thought he saw a flash of jealousy.

"Yeah. I could never get him to dance, let alone how Nico described the way you two danced. When I finally get back to work I intend on watching the security footage of that for sure."

"Well, there's always a chance for someone to surprise us all."

"Yeah. Well, I've got things to take care of for Thursday. It was nice to meet you, Shawn. Take care of Carl here. Carl." Tim shook Carlton's hand and turned to leave.

"See ya' Tim."

Once Lassiter and Shawn walked back to Lassiter's desk, Shawn opened up with questions.

"So. You and Tim? How long ago were you together? And he calls you Carl?"

"Shawn. It was a long time ago. Before Victoria. Your nicknames for me aren't any better, you know?"

Lassiter didn't want to admit that a few of the nicknames had grown on him. Others still annoyed the crap out of him.

"Yeah, but 'Carl'? Makes you sound like some overweight trucker."

"Thanks for that, Shawn. Look I was invited to Doug's funeral. Since Tim is a friend, I was thinking of going if the Chief allows me the time off. I know you aren't comfortable with funerals, but would... could you?" Lassiter pinched the bridge of his nose and settled his nerves a little. "I'd like to invite you to go with me, if you can, or if you want to. It's in San Diego on Thursday. I'd end up staying two nights, but I'd understand if you couldn't go.

Lassiter knew he was rambling, but Shawn grabbed his hand and he stopped.

"Lassie, relax. Funerals aren't my thing, but I'll go with you. If to only make sure Tim doesn't make any moves on you."

"Are you saying you don't trust me to decline any 'moves' he may make on my own? I'm not that easy, Spencer/"

"True. You did fend off my advances last night for about two, three hours?"

"That's different. We are, you know, dating. I'm not dating Tim."

"But you had dated him. Funerals tend to get people all emotionally athwack. I am volunteering for chaperone duties. I want to keep all of this." He gestured to Lassiter, "For myself."

Lassiter couldn't help it when he ended up growling at Shawn.

"Whatever. Just keep Wednesday afternoon through Friday evening free, if you can remember that."

"No problem. That's an easy one."

"Are you and Guster doing anything for lunch? O'Hara and I were about to break."

"Well, Lassie. Gus would like to take you out for lunch."

"Guster wants to have lunch with me? What is this about? I thought he was afraid of me, and kept a suitcase by the door in case he had to run from me."

Shawn lowered his voice and Lassiter leaned in to hear him.

"He's exercising his best friend right to 'check out' well, you."

"And you aren't coming with us?"

"Nope. I'm going out with Jules."

"In that case, don't tell her anything too embarrassing."

Carlton looked at Guster, whose face and body language had taken on a seriousness he'd only seen the man have once before when he had threatened to punch him in the face.

"Okay Guster. Let's do this. Are you driving or am I?" He grabbed his suit jacket off his hook and followed Shawn's best friend out of the station.

* * *

Even though he had to endure being folded almost in half to fit in the tiny blue car, lunch with Guster went pretty well.

At first, Gus read him the riot act about not hurting his friend, respecting their friendship and made threats that he couldn't physically backup. He moved quickly over what Lassiter's intentions were. Gus was happy to hear that whatever was happening, it wasn't a one-off, kiss-off thing. Even if Lassiter couldn't practically define what was happening between them.

"Now it would be remiss of me, because of my medical background, if I did not cover the issue of blood testing."

"Blood testing? Guster? What?" Lassiter tugged against his tie and wondered if the restaurant's air conditioning was working properly.

"I'm talking about you caring enough for my best friend to keep yourself, and he by extension of your relationship, clean from any STDs."

"Okay. I got it. *ahem* I get routine physicals through the SBPD. My last blood screening was three months ago after the marmoset-smuggling incident, and those rabies shots. I'm clean. Of rabies and STDs."

"Good to know, on both counts. Let's keep it that way." Guster pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the table to Lassiter. "This is Shawn's last test results. I had him go in a month ago."

"Does he know you're showing this to me, Guster? I'm not a fan of people airing out others' private information." Lassiter glared at the man who was supposed to be Shawn's best friend.

"He told me to show it to you. Relax."

Lassiter removed his angry glare and looked at the results. He had years of experience looking at these lab result papers. Besides the fact that Shawn was clear of anything nefarious, it did show that Shawn was slightly anemic. Lassiter mentally filed the information for the future. As he passed the sheet back, he thought of ways to increase Shawn's iron intake.

Guster ended the lunch with some helpful 'Shawn Tips', as he called them. Things Lassiter might need to know if certain issues came up.

"If he gets in a funk to where he hasn't done laundry in more than three weeks or eaten anything other than Doritos, take him to the pet store."

"The pet store? Good lord, why?"

"Bunnies. Their fluffy awesomeness draws him out of that type of funk faster than any prescription drug."

"Really? Bunnies?"

"No joke, Lassiter. Bunny Love is Shawn's cure-all."

"When he gets bored, any marathon of Magnum PI or Knight Rider or Billy Zane or early Val Kilmer movies will fit the bill."

Lassiter found himself pulling out his notepad when Gus started listing Shawn's favorite smoothie and food cart locations.

On their return trip to the station, Lassiter asked a final question.

"What's with all the pineapple?"

Gus laughed.

"Aw, man. That's a story, detective, but if you must know, it started with a curious dare our senior year of High School. You see, Shawn had found an article in his father's Playboy that said that if a guy ate certain foods that our... you know... would taste differently."

Carlton felt uncomfortable at Guster's storytelling. he had no idea his simple question would diverge into such territory. He suddenly had a feeling of dread with what would be told to his partner by the end of their lunch.

"So after reading the list, Shawn decided he wanted to try and make his as sweet as possible in case he had a date that went that far."

"Pineapple?"

"Pineapple. He's been addicted to the fruit since, but that's how it started."

Lassiter felt himself get embarrasses as he recalled the blowjob he'd given Shawn. He could now appreciate more fully the taste that had been left in his mouth last night.

"Thanks, Guster."

"You got it, Lassiter."

Carlton shook the man's hand on the front steps of the station and they went inside.

Shawn and Juliet were sitting at her desk waiting for their partners when Lassiter and Gus returned. Lassiter left Guster at the front desk to go to his desk and Shawn made his way to Lassiter.

"So. You're still alive and he's still alive." He lowered his voice. "Are we still alive, Lassie?"

"Shawn, I have heard things in the last hour about you that should make me run away in fear." He turned to Shawn, arched his eyebrow and smirked at him. "We are still good, Shawn. Come on, it was Guster, not a Spanish Inquisitor."

Lassiter leaned in to his ear.

"But I'll never look at a pineapple the same way again." He winked, smacked Shawn on the shoulder and walked to his desk.

Shawn walked to his best friend at the front desk with a slight blush on his neck.

"Hey, buddy! The Chief says she'll get our check in about five more minutes."

O'Hara joined Lassiter as he got himself a cup of coffee.

"So, what did he tell you? I'd rather be embarrassed all at once than keep guessing for days what you know."

"Carlton, I'm shocked that you think I'd embarrass you."

Of course, he was suspicious of his nosy partner and continued.

"No embarrassment coming my way, then?"

"Not at all." Her words came out, but he was still not buying it.

He took a sip from his coffee and it stung his tongue, but he continued to drink.

"I just thought I might ask you for your foreplay secrets."

He coughed as he choked on his coffee. As his breathing evened out, he glared at his partner.

"What?"

"Well, Shawn seemed really impressed by your technique last night."

"Sweet Justice. Spencer."

"It's not his fault, partner. I pestered him until he said something." Lassiter understood. She had been pretty persistent lately about getting information.

"Anything else?"

"Nah. The rest of your secrets are safe. He wouldn't give up anything else."

"Thank God for that."

The detectives returned to work. Strode had left a message on Lassiter's desk that both Ted Nelson and Doug Chambers' families had processed the release paperwork, which reminded him that he needed to request time off. He went in to talk to the Chief.

* * *

"Okay. So you will be off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday." The Chief was typing Lassiter's request into her computer. "What about the weekend? You're usually off on Sunday with Saturday being a paperwork catch-up day. Are you planning to work either or both days?"

Lassiter considered the options and decided to work Sunday in exchange for one of the days he'd miss.

"I'll put you down for two days personal time off. Just make sure you're here a minimum of four hours on Saturday. If it turns out you don't make it in on Saturday, we'll take three days."

"Understood."

"Lassiter! Chief! Come quick. One of the officers is harrassing Shawn."

"What?!"

Both Lassiter and the Chief followed Gus out of her office. A crowd of people had started to form.

O'Hara and McNab had positioned themselves in front of Shawn with other officers trying to pull Officer Marshall from the reception area. Over the shouting, Marshall could be heard.

"You all know that this fortune teller quack only gets hired because Lassiter has the Chief hire him."

"Not true, Marshall."

"Come on, O'Hara. You, of all people, should know full well that he's sucking our head dick's dick for cases."

"Son of a bitch!" Lassiter made to advance into the situation in front of them, but Vick pulled him back.

"Carlton, stand down. What in the hell is going on here? Marshall?" Chief Vick used her best in-charge voice.

Marshall looked like he was drunk as he stumbled closer to her.

"What? Just a conversation about how cases are assigned to our dear consultant."

"McNab. Fielding. Restrain 'Officer' Marshall and bring him to my office. Detective Lassiter. I believe you and O'Hara have an open robbery case. Am I right?" She was still talking loudly for everyone to hear.

"Yes, Chief."

"I want you to bring Psych in to consult. What do you say?"

Lassiter was fuming and it took all of his restraint to not lunge for Marshall as he was escorted in front of him to the Chief's office. That and her threat of a reprimand if he got into another fight.

"What? No. We do not need Spencer and Guster on our case. They would only get in the way."

"So, you're saying we don't need them on that case?"

"No. We. Don't need them, Chief."

"I think I'd like them assigned to it anyway. Two more sets of eyes. Detectives."

"But, Chief. We don't..." Vick put on her best glare at Lassiter. "Yes, Chief."

"Mr. Spencer. Mr. Guster. Come in tomorrow morning to assist Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara."

"Yes, Chief."

"Everyone else. Back to work."

As Chief Vick walked back to her office, she handed Lassiter an envelope.

"Give this to Spencer and Guster. And Detective? Well played. I'll explain later."

Lassiter walked to the reception area to join Shawn, Guster and O'Hara. He was still seething from Marshall's words, but he needed to make sure Shawn was okay. He handed the envelope with Psych's check to Guster.

"Excuse me, O'Hara. I need to peak with Spencer a moment." He pulled Shawn to the records room and closed the door. Shawn sat in the only chair. Lassiter squatted down between Shawn's knees and put his hands on the other man's thighs.

"Shawn. Are you alright?"

Shawn lifted his head and looked into Carlton's eyes. He looked like he could fall apart at any moment.

"I'm okay. I thought Marshall was going to hit me. Or Gus. He was really angry and drunk."

"Yeah. Well, Vick's with him now. He won't get away with what happened."

"That's good." Shawn lifted the corners of his mouth slightly into an almost-smile.

Lassiter ran his hands higher up Shawn's thighs and Shawn leaned down. It was short, but the kiss relieved some of the tension both men held.

"I gave Guster your check. Go home. I'll call you later to check on you."

"Okay, Lassie. I'll talk to you later, then."

Shawn and Lassiter both stood and left the records room. Shawn joined with Gus and Lassiter walked to the conference room where Juliet joined him.

O'Hara and Lassiter sat silently. They could hear the Chief yelling at Marshall and Marshall getting loud back at her.

"O'Hara, am I being stupid?"

"What? No. For what?"

"To be starting this relationship with Spencer. Am I stupid to think I can do this?"

"No, Carlton. Why would you think that?"

"Marshall, the two idiots from the pier. We are going to have to deal with people like that all the time."

"Listen, partner. I know that you've been happier since you and he started seeing each other. Shawn practically glows around you. When he talks about you, his smile is crazy blinding. You guys are good for each other. What others think is not your concern."

"O'Hara. Just because we've enjoyed each other's company, is that worth all of this?"

"Could be. Is it worth it to you? Or Shawn? To be together and happy, not alone and miserable?"

Lassiter loosened his tie, undid his top two shirt buttons and rolled up his sleeves.

"Alone and miserable sucks, but this hurts, O'Hara. I saw Shawn's face out there, he was scared. He shouldn't have to feel that."

"He has you, me and Gus to help him. You have us too, you know? You have to try. Get up and try. He's worth it, isn't he?"

"I think he is, O'Hara. Juliet? O'Hara. You know what they say... 'Where there is desire, there's bound to be a flame. Where there is a flame someone's bound to get burned.' "

"I think the rest of that song says... 'Just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die.' "

"That came from a song?" Lassiter tried to figure where he'd heard it before, but came up blank.

O'Hara, on the other hand, laughed at his confusion.

"Yeah. It was played several times at the Cathedral Station."

"That explains it."

It might also explain his recent change in music choices and purchases on iTunes.

It was another ten minutes before McNab and Fielding escorted Marshall down the hall to the locker room. Lassiter hoped they were letting him empty his locker before they escorted him out of the station.

Chief Vick came out of he office and joined her detectives in the conference room.

"Officer Marshall has been officially suspended for six weeks. His reinstatement will be dependent upon a behavioral review and psychological evaluation. I highly doubt he will be allowed to return. Some of his opinions are deeply-rooted and, frankly, disturbing."

"The robbery case, Chief? What was all that about out there? We don't need Psych to assist."

"Did you see the officers out there? I had to dispel the rumor that Spencer gets put on cases based on his relationship with my Head Detective. Whether or not those rumors are true is not the issue, I cannot have even the slightest appearance of favoritism in case assignment. Now, we..." the Chief gestured to the three of them in the room, "We all know that you have hardly ever welcomed Psych being brought onto a case, and I needed to use that and show it to everyone out there. Tomorrow let Spencer and Guster help with the evidence log and final review. Hopefully all of this will blow over after a while."

"Thanks, Chief."

"Now, why don't you two finish up today's paperwork and head home? It has been a long Monday."

Lassiter and O'Hara got up to leave the room and the Chief turned back to them.

"And Carlton? You might want to suggest to Spencer, or whomever, a more discrete location for their love bites. Or, forgo the loosening of your ties until they heal over."

Lassiter redid his collar and tie before he exited the conference room while his partner silently chuckled.

* * *

Lassiter walked into his house, put his keys, wallet and badge on the counter, took off and hung up his jacket and holster and sat down on his couch. He just sat for about twenty minutes while he thought about things. He thought about Shawn, the open murder case, the trip to San Diego he was taking, remembering he'd have to make hotel reservations. Which led him back to think about Shawn again.

When he came back to himself, he realized how quiet his house and his life is when Shawn wasn't around him.

At that moment, he felt something click in his heart. It almost hurt, but felt great at the same time. Carlton pulled out his phone and called Shawn.

"Hey, Lassie. Calling to check on me?"

"Yes. You sound better. Are you okay?"

"Perfect. Especially now that I'm talking to you and holding the cutest dwarf bunny at the same time."

"That's great, Shawn. Have you thought more about taking the trip to San Diego with me? The Chief accepted my time off request."

He really wanted to beg or plead for Shawn to go with him, but after Marshall's incident he wanted to see if Shawn had changed his mind.

"Yeah, Lassie. I'll go with you. I'll even hold your hand during the service to keep you from crying your eyes out."

"Shawn, I won't be crying." Carlton wouldn't mind him holding his hand, though.

"Hm. It's a funeral. A lot of people will be crying."

"I'm not Guster. I'm not a sympathetic crier."

"Got it. So no hand-holding, then?"

"Now, I didn't say that."

"Ooh, Lassie. You can be so hot, even on the phone."

"Shawn. Besides checking on you, I need to make hotel reservations..."

"Just make sure they have room service. Are we going to share a bed? Or not?"

It sounded, to Carlton, like Shawn was giving him the decision, but that he would be less excited about individual beds.

"I was thinking about just one bed. We did already sleep next to each other, without incident even."

"Yes! I mean *ahem* okay. Sounds good. I'm going to need a black suit, right?

"Yes, Shawn. If you can manage that."

"Sure I can. Lassie, I've got to go. Gus and I are heading from the pet store to grab dinner. Have you eaten? You can join us."

"Not tonight, but thanks. I've got things to do. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

" 'Bye Lassie."

" 'Bye Shawn."

Carlton didn't really have too much to do, but he had already had lunch with Guster and it sounded like Shawn needed his time with his friend.

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 9-**


	10. Chapter 10- No Regrets, Just A Boyfriend

**A/N:** Thanks for sticking around! I had to write a newly-intimate Shawn & Lassiter on a road trip... so there's a bit of that in here. Again, anything recognizable or a brand name, not owned by me. Let me know what you think by sending a review if there's anything you like/don't like... whatever. Thanks again for staying through the story!

* * *

Wednesday afternoon had come too quickly for Lassiter.

He and Shawn, along with their partners, worked to finish the robbery case, then it was a late night on patrol to make up some of the hours he'd lose Wednesday morning. By the time he woke up, he felt rushed to pack his things, grab lunch and buy last-minute toiletries before he left to pick up Shawn.

He was standing in the convenience store when he was smacked in the head with the gravity of the trip he was taking. He was intending to go on a two-night trip with Shawn. They would be sharing a hotel room and a bed for the next forty-eight hours. They hadn't talked about what was going on between them, besides utilizing the term of dating. Would Shawn be expecting them to have sex during this trip? Was Carlton considering having sex with Shawn on this trip? They hadn't ventured passed hand and blowjob territory yet, but Carlton had hopes of going further. He was standing in the aisle with the condoms and personal lubricant and considered his options. If he bought the items, was he being presumptuous or simply prepared? Carlton sided with his instincts to be prepared.

"Better to have them and not need them, then to need them and not have them." He mumbled to himself before placing condoms and lube in his basket with the shaving cream and toothpaste.

He pulled into Shawn's parking lot as the other man was locking his apartment; bags in hand. Carlton got out, took Shawn's garment bag from him and pulled him into a very grabby hug and deep kiss.

"You missed me." Shawn teased Carlton when they finally pulled away to breathe.

"Maybe a little." Carlton kissed him once more before he looked at Shawn's luggage. "This is all you're bringing?"

He only had the garment bag and his backpack. Carlton had a garment bag, but also a duffle and his laptop bag.

"I'm used to traveling on my motorcycle. I've learned to pack light."

Carlton adjusted the garment bag in his hand to put it on top of his own in the trunk, but was surprised to find it so deceptively heavy. He figured Shawn must have packed more than just his one suit for the funeral into it, maybe his shirts, too.

"Ready to go?"

"Not yet."

Carlton wondered what else Shawn needed before he was ready. He wasn't prepared when Shawn lunged at him and they were once again locked into a very passionate kissing and groping session against the car. When Shawn pulled away, he played with Carlton's shirt collar, which exposed the dark mark on his neck and then ran his hand down Carlton's shirt buttons.

"Now I'm ready."

Carlton felt slightly light-headed from Shawn's contact and he really hadn't planned to start the long drive half hard, but he found himself in exactly that predicament.

"It's a five hour drive, Shawn. Now I'm tempted to stop every hour in order to touch you."

"No worries, Lassie-Face, I'll make sure to touch you plenty as you drive." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"No funny business. I don't want to drive us into a ditch."

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"It's put away while I'm behind the wheel."

"Okay, fine. I'll behave." Shawn got into the car and Lassiter closed his door. As he walked to the driver's side, he smiled.

"I highly doubt that."

* * *

Turned out Shawn did behave himself, mostly. An hour into the road trip he tried to get into Carlton's pants, but was slapped away. He resorted to just keeping his hand on Carlton's thigh instead.

Two hours into the drive, Shawn decided to play around with their music playlists. The Fusion was setup to link to their iPhones and play their music. Carlton dreaded that Shawn had access to his phone, but figured he'd have to eventually trust him with his things if they were going to continue seeing each other.

"Lassikins, your music playlist seems to be a little mental. Vic Damone and P!nk pair up as well as chocolate milk and whiskey." Shawn made a sour face as if he'd just imagined drinking said mixed drink.

"I don't listen to them in the same sitting. It all depends on my mood."

"However, this list holds promise." Shawn selected his 'Morning Run' playlist and Carlton instantly blushed. That particular list had most of his newly purchased songs and, therefore, was inspired by their most recent undercover detail.

Shawn had decided to embarrass the crap out of Lassiter during an unexpected traffic jam. He lowered his window, increased the volume on the stereo and proceeded to belt out and dramatically enact his own brand of theatrics to Ms. Perry's 'Peacock'. Carlton made several attempts to stop his antics: he stopped the song, but Shawn just restarted it from the beginning. When he lowered the volume, Shawn continued to sing it, but with made up lyrics, which turned out being even more lewd.

So he resigned to listen to Shawn and watch his dramedy. By the time the song finished and the next song played, Carlton's ears were bright red and Shawn grinned like the Cheshire Cat from 'Alice in Wonderland'. Carlton was relieved that no one in the neighboring cars had taken up the song's invitation and actually shown off their peacocks on the highway.

Three and a half hours into the trip, they stopped for snacks and to stretch. After a mild make out session, and Shawn's offer of naughty bathroom fun, which was dropped immediately when they saw the gas station's bathroom, Shawn pointed out a car that had passed them earlier.

"How do you know it's the same car?"

"License plate. Hard to forget a vanity plate that said 'TUBAMOM'."

"I'll give you that."

Carlton got an idea for a road game as he pulled back onto the freeway. He would take the first three letters of a license plate and see if Shawn could match it with the car. Sort of an 'I-Spy'-type of game.

It failed miserably until he realized the problem. He was used to using the police phonetic alphabet and Shawn was being stubborn about not using it. So instead of 'Young, Frank, Union', Lassiter came up with 'Why, Eff You.', which earned a nice chuckle from Shawn before he replied.

"Blue Taurus."

'William Tom Zebra' became "What's."

"Red Camry."

'John King Tom' became "Jacket."

"Silver Mercedes. Nice car."

Shawn had come up with his own game for Carlton. He would read the letters, still not phonetically, off of vanity plates and see if Carlton could figure out the puzzle. Carlton always pegged himself as a visual person, so some of the puzzles would take a while as he tried to 'see' the letters in his mind. Shawn figured this out pretty quickly it seemed because the plates Shawn would read off would be ones in Carlton's field of vision.

"X.P.C.T.2.W.N."

"Expect to Win. Arrogant."

Carlton was surprised by the variety of vanity plates Shawn picked from the road. He seemed to be finding the ones that amused the detective.

"I.A.M.R.M.D."

"I am armed."

"I'm sure you are, Lassie. Ooh, I'm shocked this isn't your plate. G.L.O.C.K.2.1."

"Really? Glock 21?" Carlton was curious about the driver of the vehicle that wore that plate and as they passed it, they found that the driver was a woman. "Well, look at that."

"Want to signal her to pull over? You could exchange phone numbers."

"You can't be serious? I'm in the car with you on a trip that spans two nights, of which we'd be in the same bed together. And you think I would want to go and get the phone number of someone else?" Lassiter felt himself getting angry, not just at Shawn's flippant statement, but if Shawn thought he would want to try and pick someone up while they were... together, did that mean that Shawn thought about doing the same?

"Calm down, Carlton. I was joking. Only joking. I certainly am not willing to share all of that," Shawn gestured to Carlton with his hands, "with anyone. I mean, that is one of the reasons I'm on this trip, remember? To keep Tim-from-the-past from getting onto you."

Carlton felt better as he took in what Shawn said. "Good. Wait. What are your other reasons for coming with me?"

"Maybe I wanted to spend some quality alone time with my new lover? Boyfriend? There has to be a less 'ew' but more grown up term for... this. I know! Lovfriend? Will you be my lovfriend, Lassie?"

"You're right, there has to be a better term for this. No. I will not consider lovfriend, it sounds really weird. We could just stick with boyfriend. I mean if we were dating women, we would still introduce them as girlfriends eventually, right? Lovers just sounds so... dirty."

"I guess it will all depend on the type of sex we have then. Boyfriend it is, for now."

"Great. At least that's decided."

After all the boyfriend talk, the license plate game lost their interest and they just listened to the music. Carlton felt a warm sensation in the vicinity of his heart when he thought that Shawn was ready to consider him a boyfriend. He hadn't believed it possible that someone would be willing to want him in that capacity again. Carlton glanced over to Shawn, his boyfriend, and felt happy. And really horny. Thank God he was 'prepared'.

When they arrived at the hotel, Carlton was thankful to finally be done driving. The Fusion was great to keep gas costs down, but was hard on the body for long trips. He was looking forward to taking his shoes off, a shower and finally getting to be alone with his boyfriend. He admitted that it was going to take some time to figure out how not to blush and grin every time he thought about Shawn being his boyfriend.

The two men gathered their luggage and went inside to check in. Carlton wasn't sure what kind of reaction he was expecting from the front desk clerk, but utter incompetence wasn't what he had planned to deal with.

The desk clerk was convinced there had been a mistake in the reservation system. He had called his manager to arrange to have a room with two beds made available before Carlton could explain. He ended up having to nearly spell out to both the clerk and the manager that he had, indeed, reserved one room with one bed, and that, yes, the two of them were going to stay in the room together with only the one bed.

When Carlton was finally given the room keys and they were on their way to the room, Shawn broke into a laugh.

"What's so funny, Shawn?"

"You." Shawn took a deep breath to stop laughing. "You just came out to the thickest and densest people I've ever met."

"Yeah. That's really funny. Now get your ass inside the room."

"You've been thinking about my ass, Lassie? Well, to be honest, I've been doing a lot of thinking about your ass, too."

"Get. Inside. Now."

To Carlton's amazement, Shawn obeyed. He watched as he dropped his backpack, hung his garment bag, kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the bed. Shawn bounced twice and Carlton was happy to know that the bed didn't make too much noise. Carlton blushed at the thoughts that entered his mind.

"Come on over, Lassie. I won't bite, unless you want me to."

Carlton closed the door, hung his own garment bag and put his bags and shoes next to Shawn's before he sat on the edge of the bed. It felt nice to be sitting on something soft.

"Vick suggested a more hidden area if you do. The last one you left is too visible when I relax my tie."

Carlton felt Shawn's hands on his back as his boyfriend slid closer and ran them up to his shoulders and brought his arms around him.

"I'll take it under advisement." Shawn licked and kissed against Carlton's neck and nipped at his ear before he pulled Carlton down onto the bed. They both stretched and relaxed into each other, each running their hands over the other's body and taking turns diving their tongues into each other's mouths.

"This is really incredible, but after the long drive I am tired and I am hungry for an actual meal. Not something that comes out of a bag."

"Room service? Or would you rather go down to the restaurant?"

As tempting as the idea was of ordering room service and cuddling with Shawn until the food arrived, Carlton liked the idea of the restaurant. Only because it promised that they could focus on eating the food without getting distracted into doing other things. He was hungry.

"Restaurant."

"Okay. But first, " Shawn pulled Carlton into another kiss and then bounced off the bed and headed to his garment bag. "I need to make sure this is the right size, just in case we need to head to this tailor I Googled for some emergency tailoring before we eat."

"Emergency tailoring? What could you possibly need..." Carlton didn't finish his question, as Shawn took out a suit in the most dramatic shade of black he'd ever seen. He walked over to Shawn, and the suit, as if he was in a trance. "Shawn?"

Shawn's face blushed and he looked nervous.

"I felt bad that you ruined one of your better suits in that fight on the pier. Hope you don't mind, but I had to liberate one of your better-fitting suits from the dry cleaners early, in order to get the sizing right. That suit is in my bag too, don't worry, it's safe.

Shawn handed the suit to Carlton, who was still speechless. "It's that dark black you liked. Uh, "

" 'Washington Black'." Carlton finished Shawn's sentence and looked into his boyfriend's eyes. "How did you...?"

"After the pier incident, I called Agent Ewing. He still owed me a favor for the counterfeit case. So, I called it in. Ended up rushing the tailoring when you asked me to join you for the funeral, but..."

Carlton pressed his lips against Shawn's to stop the rambling.

"Shawn. You astound me. Thank you."

Carlton had never been given such an extravagant gift before. Without so much as a warning, and without modesty, he undressed in order to try on the suit. He left on his button-up, but swiftly undid his belt and pants. He thought he heard a noise come from Shawn as he stepped out of them.

Once the new pants and jacket were on, Carlton gave Shawn the full 360 view.

"It feels right. What do you think? Shawn?"

"It's not bad. In fact, it's really, really great. You look sexy, Lassie."

Carlton shot Shawn a rarely seen, genuine smile before he took off the jacket and pulled his shoulder holster and service weapon out of his duffle bag. Once he had the rig on and holstered the gun, he pulled the new suit jacket back on.

"This is the real test. Sometimes, the gun makes the jacket sit wrong." He walked to the bathroom to use the full-length mirror.

"Maybe your gun's just too big."

"Bite your tongue, Shawn. No such thing as a gun too big."

Carlton checked the jacket's line with the gun underneath. He looked over the jacket's sleeve length and the pants' hem length. All were spot-on perfect. Usually a tailor took a week or more to get Carlton's proportions right. He nearly never could buy off the rack without feeling dopey. Whoever Shawn had found to do the alterations was a genius. He made note to visit that tailor again.

After a final look, he returned to the room and found Shawn holding out an equally impressive black tie.

"Shawn, you really shouldn't have. No one has ever bought me such a nice gift."

"Technically, I didn't buy it. I just called in a favor. I only paid for the rush alterations and the tie, of course."

Carlton took off the suit and hung it back up. He then tossed the room service menu to Shawn.

"Changed my mind about dinner. We're eating in. Someone's earned the privilege of ordering anything he wants from that menu tonight."

"Lassie?"

"You have until I get out of the shower to decide what you want. I'll order while you take your shower."

Carlton grabbed his hygiene kit and left Shawn to wash off the road grime. As he waited for the water to warm up, which thankfully didn't take long in hotels, he brushed his teeth. He didn't take a very long shower and he was just about to turn off the water when he heard the bathroom door open. Shawn didn't say anything, but just entered the shower.

"I decided what I wanted. Figured we'd save some valuable time if I just jumped in here with you and then we could order when we were both out."

Carlton slid over to let Shawn have access to the warm water. When Shawn tilted his head to rinse his hair, Carlton couldn't help but stare at the body in front of him. The toned arms and chest that barely had any hair on it, as opposed to the near jungle that inhabited his own chest. Shawn wasn't muscled or thin, but he definitely had it going on in all the right places, despite his eating habits.

The naked detective took in all that was Shawn Spencer while he stood in the shower. In all the years he had known that he was attracted to men, he never had met one that could get him so excited and aroused while doing so little. He went to the gym all the time, occasionally had taken cautious peeks in the locker room, but had felt nothing except normal curiosity. The sight of Shawn, his Shawn, naked and wet and in such close proximity caused his heart rate to spike and blood flow to head south.

Carlton waited for Shawn to finish rinsing the shampoo out of his hair before he grabbed his boyfriend and with what sounded embarrassingly like a growl, he pressed himself against Shawn as he kissed the man's neck and sucked hard enough to leave his own mark on him.

"Lassie." Shawn was already breathless from Carlton's touches.

"Shawn." Carlton leaned his forehead onto Shawn's and looked into his eyes. The intense green in them seemed to melt him to his core. He felt so many of his solid and hard internal walls crumble under their gaze. Carlton's hands found their way to Shawn's ass and he pulled him even closer. So close their erections pressed into each other. He leaned down and kissed Shawn, wanting to send every feeling, every need to him through their lips. "I want you."

Carlton ran his left hand down further and found Shawn's entrance. He circled a finger around it with the water from the shower slicking its path. He heard Shawn gasp at the same time as he pushed back into Carlton's hand, which caused the finger to enter him. "Please."

"Oh Jesus, Carlton. Yes."

Carlton pressed his finger further into Shawn at the same time as he thrust his tongue into his boyfriend's mouth. Shawn moaned and pulled forward, which caused their hard-ons to grind into each other, but it also gave Carlton better access. He adjusted his angle and Shawn nearly bit his tongue when his second finger entered.

The water temperature, thankfully, remained steady as Carlton continued towards his goal of preparing Shawn to be able to take him fully once they exited the shower. More of Shawn's weight pulled onto Carlton's shoulder, as he seemed to be going boneless. His moans and soft bites at Carlton's neck were the only indications that the man hadn't passed out.

"Carlton, I want you in me now. Not just your fingers. Please."

Carlton lifted Shawn's chin to meet his and he kissed him, allowing their tongues to mingle for a minute.

He finally let go of Shawn just long enough to reach around and turn off the water. They both stepped out of the shower and only glanced towels across themselves to catch the largest drops of water.

They had their hands all over each other and made their way to the bed as clumsily as two people locked together at the mouth and hips could move. Shawn hit the bed first and Carlton made to move towards his bag to retrieve those items he had purchased earlier.

"Don't have to go, Lassie. I found everything in your bag and put them in this drawer over here. Were you planning on seducing me and having your way with me on this trip?"

"Just wanted to be prepared. Just in case. I didn't really plan..." A small feeling of guilt crept into Carlton's heart. Was Shawn only allowing this because he snooped and found what Carlton brought? Carlton pulled away, but didn't get far before Shawn grabbed him and pulled him back to lie on top of him.

"I'm glad you were prepared." Shawn rocked his erection into Carlton's hip to signal that he wanted to get on with things. Carlton reached for the drawer and pulled out a condom and the lube and Shawn took the opportunity to bite down on his left nipple.

Carlton heard Shawn chuckle after another growl escaped his throat.

When he returned to his position between Shawn's legs with the lube, he resumed his earlier actions, but began this time with two fingers. Shawn was fully hard in front of him as he scissored his fingers, so he decided to take advantage of his location. He flicked his tongue out and licked the length to the tip before he wrapped his lips around it. At the same moment he enveloped Shawn's erection with his mouth, he snuck his third finger inside. Shawn automatically bucked his hips, which forced his cock deep into Carlton's mouth and nearly down his throat. Carlton pulled back and continued to suck as he pressed his fingers in and back out; he waited for Shawn to tell him he was ready.

He didn't have to wait long; Shawn grabbed at his hair and pulled him off his erection to look into his eyes. Carlton's heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the emerald green that shown back at him.

"I'm ready. I want you. Now, Lassie."

"Well then, I shouldn't keep you waiting, should I?"

"No."

Carlton slipped his fingers out and Shawn made a slight whining noise and protested the lack of contact.

"I'm coming right back, baby. Just give me a second."

He felt Shawn's eyes on him the entire time it took him to roll the condom on and slick more lube onto Shawn and himself. He pulled himself on top of Shawn and kissed him hard as he opened Shawn's legs further. He positioned himself at Shawn's entrance and started to slowly press inside.

Shawn's eyes went wide at the sensation and Carlton felt all of Shawn's muscles constrict and relax at his intrusion. He took his time and waited to move between muscle constrictions. He thought he was going to go mad with the feelings around his cock and the ones floating around his heart. By the time he was fully seated inside his boyfriend, Carlton was ready to declare an undying love for the man underneath him. He leaned down and kissed Shawn, slowly pulling back about an inch and then rocking back in to take that inch back.

Shawn broke the kiss after the third rocking of Carlton's hips.

"Carly, you beautiful man, I will slap you if you don't start moving faster. I want to feel all of that pent up sexual tension." He bit down on Carlton's ear and Carlton's body responded by getting harder. "Fuck me, Lassie."

One last kiss and Carlton did what he was told. Shawn met his every thrust and even urged Carlton to go faster or harder. Carlton didn't want it to end quickly, but when he would slow down, Shawn would use his body and would fuck himself until Carlton sped back up.

They had both stopped using words and were down to moans and growls and Shawn made the occasional squeak. The sounds Shawn made alone were urging him to continue to please him. He loved those sounds and realized he wanted to keep hearing them for as long as he could.

Sweat ran down Carlton's back and he saw beads forming on Shawn's forehead. It was when Shawn gripped his shoulders and flung his head back against the pillow, that Carlton knew he was close. Carlton reached between them and pumped Shawn's cock in time with his thrusts and Shawn only lasted a few moments more before he came. Carlton wasn't far behind after that. Shawn's body tightened everywhere and as Carlton felt his boyfriend's orgasm pulse through him, he lost the control he had used to make sure Shawn came first and with one last thrust he saw stars.

He had collapsed on Shawn and had momentarily lost feeling in his legs. He felt Shawn breathing heavily underneath him and when he did finally manage to open his eyes and lift himself off of Shawn's chest; he was met with the most heart-gripping feelings he had ever felt. In that moment it felt as if his soul had decided that it wanted to stay with Shawn for the rest of its existence.

It took a few seconds, but Carlton was finally able to pull out of Shawn. A few more seconds before he could move enough to walk to the bathroom. He removed the condom and wiped himself off and returned with a washrag and a towel for Shawn. He made his way back to the bed and once Shawn was done cleaning up, he pulled him against him.

"Are you okay? I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?"

"I've never felt this fantastic, Lassie. That was, for lack of any better words in my head at the moment, fantastically incredible."

He wrapped his arms around Shawn and pulled him even closer. He licked at his neck and kissed the same spot.

"Thank you."

"Um, for what, Lassie? If anything, I should be thanking you for... earlier."

"Thank you for the suit, and for letting me, you know... earlier."

Shawn rolled over so he was face-to-face with him.

"I'm not sure I can afford to buy you a new suit every week, let alone every day, but I'm willing to try if I get that as a thank you each time."

"Shawn! That is not why what happened... happened. I thought we, and I, you were and. Shit. I did not have sex with you just to thank you for the suit."

"I know, Carly. Relax. I was messing with you. You know, I was worried for a bit after we got out of the shower and I saw just how turned on you were." Carlton saw Shawn blush. "I had a brief thought that there was no way, but you proved me wrong. I'm not even as sore as I thought I would be after that."

It was Carlton's turn to blush.

"Glad to hear that. I aim to please."

"Oh and you did please, Lassie."

"You know I am still hungry. Let's order dinner."

"Oh, yeah. Okay, you order dinner and I'll see what's to watch on TV."

They separated from each other and pulled on some clothes. Carlton ordered dinner and then joined Shawn on the small couch to see what Shawn had chosen to watch.

They had somehow wound themselves around each other and had gotten caught up in the ridiculous B movie on the SyFy channel when their room service order arrived. They ate dinner and continued to watch the horrifyingly funny movie about tornadoes and sharks. It was easily the best evening Carlton had spent together with anyone else, and he smiled as he sat back and enjoyed the dinner, the movie and the laughing sounds that came from his boyfriend.

* * *

*Shawn's POV*

Carlton's phone alarm went off and Shawn jumped at the incredibly rude noise. Once his heart returned to his chest from its trip to his brain, he stretched and ended up kicking Carlton's leg; which the detective took as a sign to roll over and start getting up.

"Okay, I know. We need to get moving. Is it okay if I take a shower first?"

Shawn watched as Lassie got up and started rummaging around his duffel bag.

"Yeah. You can go first. I want to just lie here for a few minutes."

Shawn was incredibly moved when Lassie came back to the bed after he had gathered his things and kissed him on the cheek before he walked into the bathroom.

Shawn just stretched out and thought about how things had gone between them in the last twelve hours. They had decided to use the word 'boyfriend' to describe what their relationship was and then he and his boyfriend had had incredible sex, twice, before finally falling asleep. Shawn replayed that thought for a moment. He had had sex with Lassie. No, he had had sex with Carlton Lassiter. Even better, he had had incredibly hot sex with Santa Barbara's highest ranked detective. No, wait, Head Detective Carlton Lassiter of the SBPD was now his boyfriend and had sexed him up so well that he felt his skin had to be literally glowing.

Shawn felt himself getting hard from just thinking about his detective boyfriend, who was at the moment in the shower, all wet, soapy and naked. If it wasn't for the fact that they needed to be getting ready for a funeral, Shawn would have gone into the bathroom, jumped into the shower with his sexy boyfriend and probably charmed his way into round three.

Instead, Shawn got all of his things together and went inside the bathroom to start brushing his teeth and wait for his turn in the shower.

When Lassie turned off the water and came out of the shower, Shawn nearly dropped the towel he was holding out to give him. He obviously knew what Carlton's body looked like naked, but the realization that that body belonged to his man and that it was all his, hit him like a punch to the throat.

"Thank you, Shawn. I forgot which side the towels were."

Shawn felt like he had passed out with his eyes open. He didn't respond to Lassie's thank you, just handed him the towel and stripped to get into the shower himself.

Was it possible to fall in love with someone after only having sex twice? Did he even know if what he felt was love?

Shawn was lost in his thoughts and proceeded to shower on autopilot. In the background he could hear Lassie and it sounded like he was humming while he brushed his teeth and shaved. He was so entranced with his thoughts that when he turned off the water and stepped out, he let out a girly scream when Lassie wrapped a towel around Shawn and hugged him.

"Okay, that wasn't exactly the reaction I was going for. Are you okay? Still half asleep are we?"

"Yeah. That must be it. Still pretty sleepy." And dreaming. Here was Carlton Lassiter, still only half dressed and walking around him as comfortable as he would be alone if he was in his own house. Only, when Shawn watched his boyfriend he noticed something was different. Lassie was humming while he was getting ready and there was a spring to his lanky steps around their room. Lassie looked as happy as Shawn felt. Carlton Lassiter was happy and he, Shawn Spencer, was the reason. He could live with that.

He finally found his way out of his head and started to really get ready. The two of them worked around each other seamlessly. He pointed out the missed belt loop to Lassie as he fastened his belt; Shawn helped Lassie into his shoulder holster and even fixed one of the straps that had gotten twisted. Lassiter assisted Shawn's shirt tucking and tied his tie for him. Shawn watched Lassie's hands as he worked the double Windsor knot and blushed as he remembered where those fingers were just hours ago.

"God, you're sexy. Carly."

"Not so bad yourself, Shawn. Maybe I'll talk you into wearing a suit more often."

"Let's not go crazy here. I only wear suits to weddings and funerals."

"Bummer." Shawn felt the heat from his boyfriend's eyes and he thought he might be able to wear a suit on a date every now and then.

"Are we ready for this?"

"Not really. I'm not a fan of funerals either Shawn, but Tim's a friend who had asked. Thanks for being here with me."

Shawn melted when Lassie pulled him close and kissed him. He opened his mouth and let his tongue in when Lassie ran it across his lips for permission. All too soon, the kiss ended and Lassie pulled away.

"We have to go."

"Yeah."

* * *

*Lassiter's POV*

Everyone at the funeral was in tears. Seemed that Doug Chambers had been a really nice guy to everyone he met. That made Lassiter angrier about how he had been murdered and renewed his internal vow to find the sicko and bring him to justice. He silently wished that when the time came, the psychopath would resist arrest or otherwise make it necessary for Carlton to shoot him. Dead.

Shawn must have felt Carlton's change in mood, because as they sat in their seats, he reached over and grabbed his hand and held it in his lap. He kept his hand in Shawn's during the funeral. Every so often, Shawn's thumb would run across the top and the touch relaxed him far more than even the gun range could.

When had he become such a softie for tactile contact? He lightly squeezed Shawn's hand in return.

Doug had several people speak about him at the service, but when Tim stood up to the podium, his heartfelt words and the tears that fell hit Carlton to his core. Not because Tim and he had once had something between them, but because what he was saying and feeling about losing the one man he had really loved scared Carlton.

Doug had been an accountant and Tim is the manager of a nightclub. Neither of their occupations brought with them any level of danger, yet here all these people had gathered because Doug had been killed.

Carlton turned and looked at Shawn, his boyfriend. The two of them had been in more dangerous situations and met violent people on nearly a weekly basis. The chances of either of them losing the other were so much greater. The thought of losing the happiness that he had just found was too much for Carlton to hold in and behind his sunglasses, tears started to fall. He pulled Shawn's hand that he was holding to his lips, kissed it and kept it with his in his own lap for the rest of the service.

After the service, they offered condolences to Doug's family and to Tim. Lassiter extended his word that they were going to catch the guy who killed Doug. They all thanked him for being there and wished him luck.

They drove in silence behind all the family members to the reception. Carlton didn't know what to say. The emotions that whirled around in his head weren't anything he felt comfortable voicing. Each time he looked over to Shawn, he felt his heart stop. He wondered what Shawn was thinking. After last night, Carlton started to feel things he had never felt before, even through his years of marriage. Something deep down made him want to mark him and announce to the world that Shawn was his. He was comforted by the fact that he was armed; so he had the means and the training to take down anyone who'd even try to threaten, no less harm, Shawn in his presence.

Carlton had a sinking feeling that one of his hardest challenges was going to be controlling these new feelings and urges while working a case with Shawn, especially since only a very few even knew about them being together. He tried not to remember the number of times a suspect had held a gun on Shawn in the past. Carlton had barely held himself in check then to wait for the bad guy to drop the weapon or give him an opening to disarm them. How would he behave now that he had feelings for the man next to him and feared losing him already?

Maybe there were merits to all those inter-office relationship rules, after all.

Crap.

They had the technicality of Shawn not being on officer in the department on their side, so the Chief couldn't officially split them up. Carlton hoped they wouldn't give her other reasons to assign them to different cases. It would be a challenge, but Carlton Lassiter never backed down from any challenge.

When they arrived at Doug's family's house, Carlton was finished worrying. He was sure there would be other times for that. He waited for Shawn to exit the Fusion and after the door closed, he leaned into him against the door, took his hands into his own and proceeded to kiss Shawn with all he had at that moment.

When they pulled apart, Shawn's eyes were wide and he ran a hand down Carlton's tie.

"What did I do to earn that, Carly?"

"Nothing. Everything. I just wanted to kiss you and went with that feeling. I remember someone telling me to go with my instincts."

"Must have been a pretty smart someone?"

"Nah. Just a smart ass."

"I didn't hear you complaining about my ass last night."

"Shut it, Shawn. Let's get inside."

Carlton took Shawn's hand and they walked inside together.

At the reception, there were many more people and Lassiter and Shawn didn't know anyone other than Tim and Doug's family. The family seemed to be swamped with well-wishers and supporters. They shook hands with a few people who had heard who they were at the funeral, but quickly decided to head out. Carlton wanted to tell Tim goodbye and let Tim know they were leaving. When they found him, he was sitting alone on a bench in the backyard.

"Why aren't you inside with everyone else?"

"It got too crowded. I came out here to catch my breath. Thanks for coming. Both of you."

Tim glanced at Lassiter and nodded to Shawn.

"Lassie here didn't want to come alone. He's been afraid of cemeteries since he watched 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'."

"That's not true, Shawn."

Lassiter saw a small hint of a smile on Tim's face. Shawn had somehow worked a little of his charm on Tim and brought him back.

"Tim, before we left, I wanted you to know that we will catch the guy. No matter how long it takes."

Tim stood and shook Lassiter's hand and looked at Shawn with a look that seemed to ask permission for something. Lassiter saw Shawn nod and immediately Tim had him in a hug.

"Thank you. I do not envy you and the path in front of you, but when you do catch the asshole, you hit him with everything you have to make sure he pays for this."

Lassiter pulled out of the hug and nodded back. "I promise, I will."

"We will. I'm on this team, too Lassie. Remember?" Lassiter rolled his eyes and looked at his boyfriend. "Yes, Shawn. How can I forget?"

"Well, sometimes my boyfriend can seem to leave me out of things or try and keep me off of cases."

Lassiter blushed at Shawn's usage of the boyfriend term and took a breath.

"That's because sometimes my boyfriend has the ability to get himself into situations that he doesn't belong."

Tim looked between the two of them and then a real smile did make its way onto his face.

"Boyfriend, Carl?"

"That was the first time we've said it out loud to anyone. But, yes. Tim, you already know my loud and obnoxious boyfriend, Shawn."

"Wow, Shawn. You really must mean a lot to Carl, here. In the time we were together, he never let me use the term boyfriend. And Doug made me wait an entire three months before he introduced me as such." Tim's eyes saddened and he pulled away from both of them. "You better keep him, Carl. Keep him safe."

"I intend to. I'm definitely not giving him up without a fight."

"Guess I had better get back inside. Are you guys staying or had you come to find me to say you were heading out?"

"We just wanted to see you before we left. Thanks for the invitation and if you ever need anything, you know the number."

"Thanks, Carl. Good luck and to you too, Shawn. He's not an easy man to be with."

"I already know that, Tim. All the fighting just makes the sex so much better, though."

Tim and Shawn laughed and Tim went back into the house.

"Are you as hungry as I am? Let's go find somewhere to eat."

* * *

**-END CHAPTER 10- (Chapter 11 has already been started!)**


	11. Chapter 11 - Teenage Dream

**Warnings**: ADULT behavior ahead! Small language usage and sexual situations.

I own nothing that's a recognizable brand, store or character name... bummer.

**A/N:** Yes, I went there (You'll know it when you read it, you can always skip it, but you know how it is, once it's read, it can't be unread or unthunk - unthinked? Hmm.)... Thanks for continuing to read, even if you aren't reviewing. As long as I see that people are reading, I'll continue to update. I will finish this story either way, but when there are peeps reading, I feel inclined to motivate myself to write instead of slacking around. Enjoy. Or not, I've heard it both ways.

* * *

Carlton and Shawn found a semi-casual Italian restaurant to eat. Shawn ditched his tie and jacket at the earliest moment possible and convinced Carlton to lose his tie. Carlton knew the open collar would make the dark hickey on his neck very visible, but when he saw the matching mark on Shawn's neck, he found that he was more than okay with it all.

What was it about this high-energy man-child that has brought out all of these crazy feelings and a willingness to do crazy things? Carlton started to think that his days of being bored and miserable on his own were numbered. As they were being seated, he let a smile cross his face.

"Why so smiley, Carly?"

Carlton leaned over and softly kissed his boyfriend.

"You. This is all your fault, Shawn."

He felt Shawn's hand start to creep up his thigh. When the waitress appeared, they ordered their drinks and meals. Carlton couldn't help but order the Chicken Parmesan, something that was his favorite. He was constantly out looking for the best Parmesan near Santa Barbara. So far the best one he'd ever had was from a small restaurant in Goleta. Recently, he had started to think that the reason he liked that one so much was because of the great memories of going to that restaurant with Hank. Their waitress quickly returned with Carlton's beer and glass of water and Shawn's soda.

Carlton had lost himself in his thoughts about the food, that he hadn't noticed that Shawn was being too quiet. He looked up from his drink and found Shawn staring at him.

"What?"

Shawn leaned in close to Carlton.

"So, was Tim correct? You never let him use the term boyfriend while you were together?"

"Shawn, do you really want to talk about that?"

"Yes."

Shawn had an uncharacteristically seriousness about him and the look in his eyes made it impossible for Carlton to turn down, no matter how personal the conversation was about to become. He hadn't ever talked about his relationship with Tim to anyone besides Victoria, and she had used it against him from the moment it left his lips. His first inclination was to skirt the subject or change the topic altogether, but when he looked into Shawn's eyes; he knew he wouldn't be able to do that. Carlton took a large drink of his beer and cleared his throat.

"What do you want to know?"

Shawn's face immediately brightened and the speed at which he replied stunned the detective.

"Man, now there are so many questions. How long ago were you with Tim? How long were you together? Why didn't it work out? How in the hell did you end up marrying Victoria?"

Shawn's questions came out fast and nearly left him without a breath. As Shawn settled and waited for Carlton to answer, the waitress delivered their food and Carlton was grateful to have the distraction of being able to talk, but have something other than just Shawn to focus on.

"Okay. I met Tim right after I graduated from the academy. We saw each other for a little more than six months, but I wasn't ready to announce our relationship or to shoot my police career in the foot before it had really begun. He wanted everything a relationship entailed; going to the departmental picnics together, carpooling to work and kisses goodbye, all of which I couldn't do. We broke up and shortly after that, I met Victoria and because of the stupid need to put on a front that everyone could accept, I married her. And you know how that worked out."

Carlton signaled their waitress and ordered another beer. Shawn seemed to be thinking over the things he'd just heard and Carlton gave him the time.

"Carlton?"

"Yeah, Shawn?"

Shawn didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed Carlton's suit jacket lapels and initiated a lip-bruising kiss. It didn't last long, but Carlton was taken aback by its intensity and was curious what had brought Shawn to do that.

"Shawn? What was that for?"

"I just couldn't help myself. You with all your openness and handsomeness sitting so close to me that I had to kiss you.

"Well then, thank you."

They continued to eat their meal with a minimum of conversation. Shawn would occasionally touch him under the table and he felt inclined to return the favors. He had never really participated in touchy-grabass-footsie at a restaurant before, but he discovered that he enjoyed the attention Shawn was giving him.

Shawn still wasn't really talking to him when they headed back to the hotel and Carlton was getting nervous about what Shawn could be thinking. He pulled into a grocery store parking lot and turned the engine off.

"Shawn? What's going on up in your head? I can't tell if you're just thinking about things or if you're angry about something. So, out with it."

"Sorry, Lassie. I - I guess I was just wanting to enjoy you for the time that I have you."

To Carlton, it seemed that Shawn was on the verge of tears.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" His voice came out louder and harsher than he'd meant it to, but before he could apologize, Shawn spoke up.

"I didn't want you to get angry."

Carlton noticed Shawn's lowered voice and felt even guiltier about raising his voice. He scooted as close to Shawn's seat as he could.

"I'm not angry. Just confused and honestly, nervous at what might be meaning. I have no intention of walking away from you, Shawn." He reached over and took Shawn's hand in his own, but Shawn still hadn't looked him in the eye.

"I really want to believe you, Lassie, but I don't see you as being ready to be 'us' to the detriment of your career. I know you're a private guy and it's not like I would want you to announce 'us' at the station with a bullhorn. I know it would be difficult for me, but I'm willing to work on 'us' outside the station and keep 'us', this, between us and the very select few who already figured this out."

Carlton was once again shocked at the sincerity of Shawn's words and what they meant. Shawn had taken Carlton's explanation of the reasons his relationship with Tim had ended up not working and had set those reasons against what was happening with their relationship. Carlton didn't want him to think they would end up the same way, even if he couldn't tell the future.

"Shawn, look at me." When Shawn finally raised his head and did look at him, Carlton could see that there were tears in Shawn's eyes. Seeing those nearly broke his heart at that moment. "I appreciate that you would do that for me, for us. But I don't want to keep you a secret."

A look of puzzlement crossed Shawn's face.

"But, what about your career?"

Carlton almost chuckled, but kept it inside.

"I'm also not looking to announce 'us' to the bullpen with a bullhorn. I'm not sure you've noticed this, but I am Head Detective."

Shawn did smile at that. "Yes you are. I have noticed that."

"Well, that means I am the highest-ranking detective in Santa Barbara. If I were to be eligible for a promotion, the only position ahead of me would be Chief or Sheriff. Chief Vick has made it perfectly clear that she's in the position for as long as the mayor will have her there. The mayor and I are not friends, I didn't even vote for him and I have never been considered a political asset."

"So you're saying you've hit the glass ceiling at work?" Shawn started clearing his eyes and cheeks from the tears that had slipped out and was working on regaining his more natural perky self.

"Not really a glass ceiling, but I've been Head Detective for twelve years. I didn't just get to the top; I've been there awhile now. I still dream to be chief somewhere, but I'm also not the type to start schmoozing or ass-kissing politicians anytime soon."

"So?"

"So, coming out at this point in my life will have little to no effect on my possibilities for promotion, Shawn. Look, I don't know how we're going to make this work; I'm not a psychic. But that's the best part of a journey, am I right? Going through the journey together. I am finally ready to live my life the way I want to and I want you to be with me. At some point, you may come to your senses and want to be with someone else. Someone more fun, more spontaneous, less cynical, maybe younger. But until then, I am yours. I will not leave you behind unless you poke your nose into one of my cases that you have not been assigned, then I'll leave you, but I'll leave you at your office, or your apartment or the station until the end of the day. And, I will not be any easier on you at the station."

"Got it. Now, I think I've got all of this worry out of my system. I'd like to go back to the hotel and have my wicked way with you."

"Not unless I get my way with you first, Shawn."

"I'm sure I'd be happy either way."

Carlton leaned in further to Shawn and kissed him before starting the car back up and heading back on the road to their hotel. He couldn't believe he had just laid it all out to Shawn the way he had, but he felt better for doing it. Now, maybe they could both just let this happen and flow the way it's meant to; without over thinking it and crushing it with heavy expectations. To Carlton, this felt great.

By the time Carlton and Shawn returned to their hotel room, they were both exhausted. Shawn hung up his suit jacket, put their leftovers in the little fridge and flopped onto the bed. Carlton watched him then hung up his own jacket before joining Shawn on the bed. Carlton wrapped himself around Shawn and slowly kissed him while running his hands down his back. After only a few moments, Shawn's phone vibrated. Carlton sighed, but moved over to allow him to pull the phone from his pocket, but Shawn didn't answer it. He only looked at the caller ID and put the phone on the nightstand.

"Dad. Again. He called twice yesterday. Must be really peeved off about something."

"Why didn't you take his call?"

"I have better things to do right now."

"What would you like to do now, Shawn?" Carlton arched his eyebrow and smirked at his boyfriend. He knew what he wanted to do at this moment, but was curious about what Shawn had in mind.

"I am stupid full right now, and I think if I bounced around too much, I could lose my lunch. But, there are certain things you could do that don't involve either my gag reflex or too much movement on my end."

Carlton rolled himself so that he straddled Shawn without putting weight on his stomach. He began unbuttoning Shawn's shirt and kissing his skin as it was exposed. Once the shirt was untucked, unbuttoned and pushed out of the way, Carlton worked Shawn's belt, pants and boxers off. He stood at the end of the bed and looked at the man on the bed who was waiting for his touch, his attention. Shawn was already quite hard and he loved the idea that he was the responsible for Shawn being so aroused.

He kissed, nipped and licked his way up from Shawn's calves to his thighs and finally to where Shawn wanted him; where he wanted to be. Carlton grasped Shawn's erection in one hand and slowly started to ease it up and used the small amount of pre-cum that had already formed to slick his way down. Shawn moaned above him and Carlton saw that he had closed his eyes and was gripping the sheets.

Carlton used his tongue on Shawn's balls first before running it over his erection and then claimed it fully with his mouth. He heard a hiss come from Shawn's lips and he smirked at the sound. He didn't want to break contact with Shawn or remove the wonderful appendage from his mouth in order to reach for the bottle of lube, so he improvised. Carlton let some of his saliva drip out of his mouth and run down Shawn until it reached his fingers. Once his fingers were wet, he circled Shawn's entrance. He needed more spit before he slipped a finger in, so he repeated the process two more times in order to get two fingers inside Shawn.

He reveled in the lewd sounds Shawn was making while his mouth was sucking him and his fingers were fucking him. Shawn's grip tightened on the sheets and his movements were becoming erratic, so Carlton knew he was close. Carlton brought Shawn fully into his throat and at the pressure of Carlton's swallow; Shawn came hard. Carlton continued pumping his fingers until Shawn's orgasm ended.

His throat felt a little bruised, and he licked down Shawn's balls once more and then he tried something he'd never done before. As he trailed his tongue towards his fingers, he got a little nervous, but stayed the course. He licked around his fingers first and then as he removed them, he used his tongue instead. Shawn was still coming down from his orgasm and hadn't noticed what Carlton was doing until Carlton's tongue entered his hole. Carlton's hands were tight on Shawn's thighs while his tongue went about its exploration. Shawn had only said one word during the time he took down there, but he said it over and over. He didn't stay too long, but felt oddly satisfied with his confidence in doing something so far out of his comfort zone that Shawn had obviously enjoyed. Before he climbed back up to meet Shawn in the eyes, he licked the final drops off Shawn's fading erection.

"God, Lassie. I think I nearly died. You're freaking amazing."

"Glad I didn't disappoint." Carlton leaned down to Shawn's shoulder and sucked at the skin until he'd left another mark on his boyfriend's body.

Shawn must have noticed that Carlton was still hard when he'd pushed against Shawn's hip to lean over, because he was suddenly flipped onto his back. He saw a mischievous smirk cross over Shawn's face as he removed his unbuttoned shirt.

"Your turn."

Carlton sank into the mattress as Shawn reenacted Carlton's previous maneuvers all the way down to removing his pants and boxers. The friction and the pressure of Shawn's mouth and hand on his dick were unbelievably mind-blowing. Carlton's hand fisted into the sheets just as Shawn's had moments ago. Shawn made a course change from Carlton's actions when he stopped sucking long enough to reach for a lube bottle Carlton hadn't bought. Carlton only had a second to question if Shawn had brought it with him from Santa Barbara, being as prepared for this trip as he was and then Shawn's mouth and hand returned to their previous positions. He gasped out loud when Shawn's first slicked finger circled around his hole and then slid in.

Carlton started to see stars behind his eyelids by the time Shawn was pressing his third finger into him. The sensations were infinitely better than he had imagined just weeks ago when he had been alone and fantasizing about Shawn doing exactly what he was doing now. He gripped Shawn's hair hard, maybe a little too hard when his orgasm hit and he shouted Shawn's name.

Shawn slid his fingers out and chuckled against Carlton's thigh.

Carlton was still trying to catch his breath, but managed to ask, "What is so funny?"

"Not funny, Lassie. It's just usually when you yell my name that loud, you're pissed at me for doing something you find annoying."

"Not this time. Obviously."

"Obviously."

Carlton gently urged Shawn to crawl back to him on the bed and placed a quick kiss onto his boyfriend's forehead. He wanted to kiss Shawn deeply at that moment, but he had noticed that Shawn shied away from kissing him after he had gone down on him and after where Carlton's tongue had ventured this round; he assumed Shawn would surely not want to kiss.

Shawn surprised him taking hold of his neck. He pressed his lips onto his own, even ran his tongue along Carlton's as a signal to Carlton to open his mouth. He opened and Shawn's tongue thrust in and Carlton was given the opportunity to taste himself from Shawn's mouth. He didn't know when or why doing so pleased him so much, but it did and so he was thankful that Shawn allowed him in this time.

"Shawn. You astound me. You can also be annoying and irritating, especially at work, but right here, like this... you're perfect."

"You are quite awesome too, you know."

Carlton wrapped his arms around Shawn and turned so that they were spooning and they both let out contented sighs. Just as Carlton's eyes closed and he thought he'd start to drift to sleep, his phone rang. Unfortunately, Carlton didn't have the luxury of being able to ignore calls like Shawn. It could be the station or any one a hundred other annoying things that needed his attention.

He reached past Shawn and accepted the call before the phone reached his ear.

"Lassiter."

"Carlton, what's Shawn doing with you?"

Henry's voice and the question had Carlton sitting up against the headboard instantly.

"What? Well, he's..." Carlton stumbled for a response. Henry couldn't really want to know what his son was doing, could he? No way.

"He has blown off dinner three weeks in a row and when I called Gus to find out where he was, Gus said he went to San Diego with you. Did he follow you down there or weasel his way onto a case?"

"Henry, Shawn is here with me. We went to a funeral for the family of a victim of one of our cases. He's not here in any official capacity for the SBPD."

Carlton felt awkward talking on the phone with his boyfriend's father while they were both naked. Suddenly images of what they'd been doing floated across his mind. He felt hot everywhere and knew that he was blushing and that not just ears were tinged red.

"Is he with you right now? Can I talk to him? He's been avoiding my calls."

Carlton was too flushed to answer and handed the phone to Shawn.

"He wants to talk to you."

"Dad. Have you fallen and need help to get back up? I can call Gus or you can just hang out on the floor until I get back to Santa Barbara. What? No, I'm not annoying Lassiter. Not anymore than usual, anyway. No, funerals are still terrible, but Lassie invited me, since we both worked the case. What? No."

Carlton walked away from the father and son conversation and while he was in the bathroom, he cleaned up and got dressed. He signaled to Shawn that he was leaving for a bit and that he'd be back. He felt incredibly uncomfortable and just needed some air and time to pull himself back together.

As he walked around the hotel, he realized that he hadn't factored Henry into the whole relationship with Shawn equation. They would have to tell Henry when they got back to Santa Barbara, it's the only way Lassiter would be able to face the man. Henry was a great detective and it was just stupid to think they could keep this hidden from him, if he somehow didn't already know. Maybe that was the reason Shawn had been avoiding Henry's calls and dinner invitations.

"Crap." Carlton nearly ran back into the hotel and rushed back to their room. If Shawn had been avoiding Henry's calls, it was probably because Shawn knew Henry would figure something out even over the phone and Carlton had just left him alone to dodge the Human Lie Detector's questions.

Carlton entered the room and was shocked by the state of it. The bedspread was draped and secured between the bed and the sofa over the little bedside table. The sofa's cushions had been removed and were being used as support beams to what Carlton could only describe as a blanket fort.

"Shawn?"

"I'm under here, Lassie."

Carlton guessed from Shawn's tone that he had been wrong to think Henry's call had upset Shawn. Carlton made his way through the mess and folded himself onto the floor to join Shawn under the fort. Somehow Shawn had been able to get himself dressed and make the fort in the time Carlton had been outside.

"What are you doing down here?"

"I have always wanted to make a blanket fort in a hotel, knowing the housekeeping staff would have to put it all back together. It would be funny to have them think a child stayed in here when it was just the two of us."

Carlton grinned at the thought of Shawn wanting to get a rise out of the housekeeping staff. It is just how Shawn works, it's what has annoyed Carlton at the station about his 'psychic' antics and his crazy jokes.

"What did Henry want?"

"Just Henry being Henry. You've been invited to dinner on Tuesday, by the way."

Shawn crawled under the fort to sit on Carlton's lap. Carlton loved Shawn's warmth and held him even closer.

"Why on Earth would Henry invite me to dinner?"

"Somewhere between him warning me not to piss you off enough to leave me in San Diego because he wouldn't drive down to pick my ass up and wanting to know why I've ditched him for the last three weekly dinners, he figured I must be seeing someone. Then, he told me to bring that someone to dinner Tuesday night."

"Okay then. I guess we tell Henry on Tuesday. Are you okay with that, Shawn?"

Shawn hugged Carlton and nuzzled into his boyfriend's neck, which caused Carlton to growl.

"At least this time, my date will have as big, or bigger, of a gun collection as my dad. Just make sure you have your backup with you, okay?"

"I'm not going to shoot your dad, Shawn, but if it will make you feel more comfortable, I will wear a backup."

Shawn laughed and Carlton felt his legs had fallen asleep from sitting cross-legged on the floor and having Shawn sitting on them.

"Can we get up and off the floor, Shawn?"

"Sure."

* * *

Carlton agreed to leave the blanket fort intact overnight; they weren't using the hotel bedspread anyways, (ew) and Carlton had to agree that it would be slightly funny to cause a crazy reaction in the morning.

By ten o'clock that evening, they got hungry enough to finish their leftovers from lunch and then Shawn insisted they go to the hotel's restaurant for a dessert. He had mentioned something about needing pie.

By the time they were showered and packed up to return to Santa Barbara, Carlton was ready to be back home. It was a nice break to be with Shawn, but that didn't stop the fact that there was an open murder case they needed to close. He wanted to get back to work and catch the scumbag. Attending the funeral and seeing the faces of the many family members hurt by Doug's murder cemented Carlton's resolve to find the guy. He was going to add the case to his Wanted Wall when he got home.

The drive back to Santa Barbara didn't feel as long as the one to get to San Diego, even though the time it took didn't change. There was just something about the return trip that moved faster in the mind. Carlton and Shawn shared the driving this time around, which could have helped in the perception of the trip not taking as long. They both made fun of and then appreciated each other's music choices. Shawn even added a few of Carlton's Vic Damone songs to his list of songs to download.

When Shawn pulled into his parking lot, Carlton got out to help him with his bags and to walk him to his door. Shawn opened the door to his apartment and dragged Carlton inside. They neglected to turn on the lights and Shawn was pressed to Carlton against the door as soon as it was closed. They kissed and groped each other until they couldn't breathe and both of their pants had been unbuttoned and unzipped.

The darkness of the room started to bother Carlton's instincts, as he usually scanned his front room thoroughly before entering and getting comfortable. Here they were making out before even turning on a light. He reached out and felt along the wall until he found the switch and flipped the lights on.

The moment the room was illuminated, Carlton had pushed Shawn back against the wall and had drawn his gun from his holster.

"Stay right there and call the station." He cleared the living room and slowly walked through Shawn's other rooms, turning on the lights as he went. He heard Shawn on the line with dispatch and when he was satisfied that no one was in Shawn's apartment, he returned to the living room.

Along all the walls, there were black and white photos of Shawn. Shawn scanned the photos. He was alone in most of the pictures, but as he walked from the living room to the kitchen and then bathroom, a few of them had Gus and even Juliet in them. In all of them, Shawn was smiling or even had his finger to his head in his 'psychic' pose.

"Someone took a lot of time to take these and then hang them like this, Lassie. They're in order and in a sequence. Me, alone then with Gus, then with Jules." When he walked into his bedroom, he stopped.

"We have to leave these the way they are. We cannot touch any of them. The CSU team will need to dust them for prints and catalog their positions." Carlton was slower in his path to Shawn's room, but when he finally joined him, he wanted to take back what he had just said. Even though he had cleared the apartment, he hadn't looked closely at the photographs that were hung until now.

"Lassie, are still sticking to that plan of yours?"

The walls of Shawn's room were covered in photographs of the two of them. Some were of them at the station and had Lassiter scowling out of frustration at Shawn. They got more and more personal as they circled the bed. With the most intimate ones hung above the bed itself. The person responsible for taking the photos had to have been following them through the course of the last two weeks. There were photos of them from the Red Robin, holding hands; from the pier sitting on the bench and then of the fight with the drunken idiots, a perfectly timed shot of Carlton on his knees as he punched the guy in the nuts flanked the bench picture. The three photos centered above the bed were the most incriminating and personal of them all. Somehow the photographer had managed to get the perfect angle to take a picture of Shawn in between Carlton's legs in the Ford Fusion after the fight on the pier. There, on the wall, was the image of Shawn's lips around him as he gave him a blowjob. It was hung next to an image of Carlton returning the favor to Shawn.

"How in the hell did this bastard manage to get that shot? We were inside my house and curtains were closed."

Shawn looked at the photo and noticed how grainy it was. "Whoever took the photo used a very powerful zoom lens. It's possible they got this from even the smallest opening in your curtains.

"Jesus. I wish I could take back what I said about these being evidence, but if this guy was hoping I'd be pissed off enough, he'd probably think I'd want to tear these down. There's probably more evidence on these than the others, just to mess with us."

The last picture of the two of them seemed the most impossible. It was a picture that was taken while they were in San Diego. From their hotel room. From two nights ago. When they had sex. It wasn't lewd or pornographic, thankfully to the two men, but it left nothing to the imagination to what was going on between them.

Lassiter stormed out of the room and the apartment and leaned against the outside wall of Shawn's apartment. Everything he had said to Shawn from the last couple of days was about to be tested. He heard the sirens and saw the flashing lights of the police cruisers as they approached. Lassiter pulled himself into full detective mode with even his strongest scowl in place to address the officers that arrived.

Lassiter instructed the responding officers to cordon off the apartment, escorted Shawn to the parking lot to wait for Detective O'Hara, who was requested by Lassiter himself to head the investigation. Everyone was kept from the bedroom with specific instructions that no one enters but O'Hara when she arrived.

When she arrived, Lassiter brought her into Shawn's apartment and began to brief her on what she was about to encounter after she assigned an officer to get Shawn's statement.

"O'Hara. This is your case and I trust you to handle it the way you see fit. However, there are very personal and very sensitive matters in this situation."

He watched his partner's features change from general concern about her partner to one of strict professionalism. Lassiter didn't think he had ever been so serious about anything before, and so his tone and body language probably encouraged the strengthened resolve she showed as he led her to Shawn's room. He watched as she took in the numerous photos of Shawn and slowed as she passed the ones with her in them. She stopped before they reached Shawn's doorway. Lassiter watched as she turned and took all the images in together as a whole.

"The ones in there are of you and Shawn, aren't they?" Like he had always said, she was a great detective.

"Yes."

"Oh, God, Carlton." She reached to him to put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away from the gesture.

"There will be time for that later, O'Hara."

She stepped slowly into the room; not knowing exactly what she was going to see, but prepared herself anyway.

Lassiter stood in the doorway as she walked around the room and took in the photographs. He saw her reflexively look away from the last three photos and then gather her courage to actually look at them. He was proud of her. He hoped she had the same thought he had about those pictures. The person who hung these would expect others to turn away, be embarrassed or just dismiss them all together because of their content.

"The bastard probably left the most clues on these, assuming we'd want to hide them or get rid of them."

For everything he was feeling and thinking at that moment, Lassiter was glad his partner was as smart as she was. She walked back to him and now her posture was straight and she was in full investigative mode.

She escorted Lassiter to McNab, who had arrived with her, and told him to give his statement about how they found the scene and what they had and hadn't touched to eliminate the findings in the final report. When the CSU team arrived, she pulled the supervisor aside before they went in. Lassiter couldn't hear what she was saying, but the officer nodded and then proceeded into the apartment.

Lassiter looked over to where Shawn was giving his statement to another officer. He wanted to go over to him and comfort his boyfriend. This wasn't just a violation of Carlton's privacy, but Shawn's as well. Both of their naked bodies were in those images hung for everyone on scene to see.

Once Shawn was done talking, Carlton walked over to him and hugged him, even placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Too bad we dropped your luggage inside your apartment. We'll stop by a WalMart or something and get you a few changes of clothes and a toothbrush and things."

"Why's that, Lassie?" Shawn looked up to face Carlton.

"You're coming home with me tonight. Your place is now a crime scene."

Shawn looked at his apartment as officers and the CSU team walked around the place.

"I guess it is. What do we do now?"

"O'Hara's got this under control. We now just wait and see what lands and heads our way. I still have to go to work tomorrow for a few hours but other than that, we continue as we would normally. We now know someone is watching us and following us, so we keep a lookout. With your observation skills and my paranoia, we'll catch this guy."

Lassiter walked Shawn to his car as Juliet walked to the CSU supervisor with evidence bags. She was taking the most sensitive photos and logging them herself, with the supervisor's permission and signature. Chain of evidence. He watched as she put them into the trunk of her Crown Victoria and locked it up before she walked over to them.

"We've gotten everything locked up. No one but Officer Esposito, the CSU supervisor, and us know about those three photos. I've called the chief and told her about the case, she said that she'll talk to you tomorrow when she gets to the station."

"Got it and thanks, partner. You're the best."

Lassiter opened his door and she replied back. "Besides you."

"You better believe it. See you tomorrow."

* * *

It took Shawn and Carlton a couple of hours to buy the things Shawn would need for a couple of days while he stayed at Carlton's house. This time, Carlton opened his door with his gun drawn. He immediately turned on the light and had Shawn stay at the front door as he walked though and made sure everything was secure. Once he was satisfied that everything was where it was supposed to be and that nothing had been disturbed, he walked Shawn and the shopping bags into the house.

Carlton couldn't help but feel uneasy; the creep had obviously been able to take pictures from the outside. He originally settled Shawn into the guest room, but as they got ready to sleep, he could tell that Shawn wasn't going to be able to sleep in the extra room.

"Come on, Shawn. Neither of us is going to get any sleep apart tonight. We probably have a few days of bunking together before things are sorted, so you can move into the guest room tomorrow. Shawn?"

"Are you sure, Lassie?"

"I usually don't say things I don't mean. Think of it this way; you'll be making sure I sleep tonight by staying next to me. I would be constantly getting up to check on you if you stayed in the guest room tonight."

"When you put it that way, then I have no choice than to help my boyfriend get the sleep he needs before going to work tomorrow morning."

Shawn walked into Lassiter's room and into his arms. They hugged and kissed before they both climbed into bed and turned off the light.

"Just in case, there's gun in the top drawer of the table on your side. It's already loaded, all you'd need to do is aim and pull the trigger. The safety's in the trigger, pull it like you mean it and it'll fire."

"Not exactly child safe, Lassie."

"There are no kids in my home, Shawn."

"True. What about you? Where's your gun, just in case?"

"Under my pillow, top drawer of my side table and when all else fails, between the mattress, on either side, there's a knife."

"I think I'm going to worry about your sleep habits, Carly."

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"Good night, Lassie."

* * *

**-END of CHAPTER 11-**


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